Back With Jack
by asmidgeofexcitement
Summary: The Doctor, trying to avoid facing the events of Lake Silencio, goes out on vacation only to bump into a certain captain and immediately be swept up in new adventures and a confusing attraction to his longest-lasting friend. Spoilers for Torchwood CoE and Doctor Who S6.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Back with Jack**

**Summary: The Doctor, trying to avoid facing the events of Lake Silencio , goes out on vacation, only to bump into a certain captain and immediately be swept up in new adventures and a confusing attraction to his longest-lasting friend.**

**Rating: T**

**Notes: This story is from Jack's PoV and refers to events in Torchwood quite often. For those of you who do not watch Torchwood, then I suggest watching it, then coming back and reading. If you have no desire, then I will tell you that everything you don't get (i.e. Ianto and the 456) will be explained later.**

**I do not own anything. Everything is to the BBC and Russell T. Davies, who I hate for CoE, but love because of everything else. :P**

**SUPER big gigantic thanks to an author near and dear to me, though I don't know if i mean as much to them. **Riftintime**! Their feedback has been so helpful, and I hope to get more of it as this story goes on. For those who have watched Torchwood, i suggest going and poking around riftintime's stories. This is rubbish compared to those.**

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Back with Jack, Chapter 1

Jack stumbled out of the alien pub just as an empty bottle was thrown his direction, breaking over the back of his head. He grumbled curses, knowing the minor cuts would heal over quickly. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his military great coat and strolled, quite unceremoniously, down the street of a planet his Vortex Manipulator had whisked him away to. The residents said it was called Raxon or something of the sort. That was the sixth intergalactic bar he had been booted from in the past two days. Jack didn't really care. His life had been a mess since Ianto and Steven's deaths. He got drunk every night, usually bringing home whatever warm (or cold... or metal... or scaly...) body he could coax into following him.

He hated his immortality more than ever. Sometimes he hated the Doctor because in the end, it could all be traced back to him. All Jack wanted to do was die, while everyone wanted to live forever. At least the Doctor could choose not to come back, not to regenerate, if he didn't want to. Jack figured that out with the Master...

Jack was about to flip open his wrist strap to teleport him to a nice, dark and lush hotel before he spotted a particularly fetching young inhabitant of the planet he was on. The residents were humanoid, the only difference being that Raxon people had long, reptilian tails and lizard-like eyes. This particular Raxonite would be considered VERY attractive if he were human, with a chiseled jaw, broad shoulders, nice arms and softly tanned skin. His blonde hair was tousled at the front and one hand rest on his hip, which brought Jack's attention to his greenish-blue tail. As his mind began to ponder what things the male could do with that extra appendage, Jack quickly assessed what the creature was wearing: a simple but low-cut, tight fitting black shirt and some sort of spacey-looking trousers that fit the object of Jack's thoughts all too well.

He smirked, strolling up to him, "I'm curious as to what your people do with those long tails of yours..." Jack murmured, his blue eyes locking with the amber ones of the alien, who flashed him a smirk, showing off two elongated canine teeth.

"Human, yeah? You lot always like fooling around with other species, don't you?" his voice was tinted with a soft lisp and a strong, what humans would call, London accent.

"It's a hard-broken habit of my generation... Is it so wrong that I find extra body parts insanely erotic?" Jack winked, knowing his charm would win him over.

"Absolutely not," the creature growled lowly, "I'm Taak, by the way..." he held out a hand. Jack grasped it and shook it firmly before yanking Taak towards him, their chests pressed together, "Captain Jack... My place or yours, Taak?"

"Captain, hm?" the alien trailed a finger down Jack's chest, playing with a button on his shirt, "Mine..." Taak smirked, and Jack felt something run down his back, and he had a good suspicion it was a tail.

"Lead the way, then." he growled back. They made their way out of the downtown of whatever city on Raxon, and Jack grew antsy with anticipation as Taak started teasing him more with his tail. Jack opened his mouth to whisper something in Taak's ear when he heard a loud, grinding sound that he would recognize ANYWHERE.

The sound of the TARDIS.

Jack stopped dead in his tracks and whipped around wildly, trying to spot the police box. He apologized to Taak before running off, his arousal forgotten for the moment. He was so excited, he almost ran straight into the big blue doors.

"Oh my gods! It is him!" he dug inside his shirt and pulled out the key he kept on a necklace. He yanked on the chain, freeing it from his neck and frantically trying to unlock the doors when all of a sudden, they swung open, "Space Florida!" an unfamiliar voice shouted as a tall, lanky man with long, dark brown hair combed over to the side sauntered out of the TARDIS, disregarding Jack, though not on purpose. "Or... Not.. Space Florida...?" he looked around, slightly disappointed. Jack took in what the man was wearing, raising an eyebrow. A tweed jacket, suspenders and... A bowtie?

"I believe the planet is Raxon." Jack murmured, slowly moving his gaze to the man's face which he had saved looking at for last. Jack couldn't help but wonder why the Doctor always regenerated into something attractive as he examined the defined jaw line and cheekbones of this new incarnation.

The Doctor turned to him slowly, his eyes widening, "Jack?"

"Captain Jack Harkness, at your service, Doctor!" he saluted.

The Doctor grinned and threw his arms up, "Jack!" he laughed, taking him into a tight hug, which Jack didn't reciprocate immediately. So this was a huggy kind of Doctor...?

"What's with the bow tie?" Jack asked as he pulled away, again glancing over the outfit.

"Bow ties are cool, Jack!" The Doctor beamed.

Jack shook his head, "I see your fashion sense has been tampered with along with your handsome face, not that I'm complaining about the latter." he smirked, gazing into the Doctor's green eyes.

"Jack..." his tone held that familiar kind of warning, yet it was slightly less stern. If anything, more awkward.

Jack rolled his eyes, "Come on, Doctor! So where's your pretty companion? I could use more people to flirt with. Is she a redhead this time?" He peeked inside the TARDIS.

The Doctor scratched his head, his face showing that Jack had said something wrong. "I brought her back home... It was too dangerous for her. For anybody, really."

Jack turned to him sadly, not able to stop the next words that slipped from his lips, "It's not dangerous for me..."

The Doctor lightened up and chuckled, "No. Not for you, Jack. You're... Special." His eyes still looked wary. "Erm, shall we try again for Space Florida?" he yanked Jack inside the TARDIS.

"Ooh, Doctor..." Jack grinned, following eagerly. He wondered if this Doctor was more open to things the others weren't... He seemed a bit more socially awkward, but Jack could work with that.

"Still at your antics, are we Jack?" The Doctor laughed, strolling up to the center console.

Jack froze, looking around wildly as he didn't recognize his surroundings. "You redecorated!" he gasped, taking in the new TARDIS interior.

"Hm? Oh! Yes!" the Doctor beamed, "The old girl had a bit of trouble escaping a little... Mishap. she changed. I changed. Lots of change! A new start! A new lov-" he stopped, clearing his throat, "Companion... New companion." his gaze grew distant and he turned from his old friend.

Jack, sensing that discussing whatever most recent assistant the Doctor had was treading dark waters, decided to brighten up the mood. "Well i think the TARDIS looks amazing, Doctor!" he climbed up the stairs to the Time Lord, clapping him on the back. "Who needs female assistants anyways..." he murmured, his hand sliding lower.

The Doctor jumped away, swatting slightly at Jack, "No! J-jack! No." he cast him a warning look, but there was a slight heat to his cheeks, causing Jack to smirk before he held his hands up in surrender.

"Had to try!" he chuckled, knowing his tone and demeanor would calm the Doctor down.

"Well, Jack!" the Doctor burst out, changing the subject again, "All of time and space... Though you have that device," he thrust an accusing finger at Jack's wrist strap, "So I'm sure that's not much of an offer."

"You are the only offer I need, Doc..." Jack said slyly.

The Doctor laughed a bit nervously, "Right then, where do you want to go first?"

"Well, could I suggest one of the pleasure planets in the Vegas Galaxy?" Jack said suggestively, throwing himself down in a chair.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "And what's to say I've never been to one before?"

Jack laughed a genuine laugh. Something he hadn't done since... He decided not to think about it. "Because you're always saving the universe! Too busy! Oh, 'No one knows the burden of a time lord...'" Jack mocked, much to the Doctor's displeasure. "Well look here, Doc. I've done my fair share of saving the universe what with that damn rift.."

"Right, Jack, look! Let's just forget about the past and have an adven-" The Doctor was cut off.

"Oh! And The 456? I did that without you! Too busy to save millions of children, are you?" Jack narrowed his eyes.

"Right, well there wasn't much I could-"

"Burden of a Time Lord..." Jack scoffed, "I've lost people I love, Doctor. Sure, I haven't killed off my entire race, but I almost let most of the Earth's children perish. I've always been one for having fun, but as of late, I realized that life is shit, so might as well get the most of it. We're going to a pleasure planet." he crossed his arms, not sure where all of that came from. Actually, he knew. That was all of the pent up emotion from killing his lover and his grandson. The same emotion he had been ignoring when he was shagging a random person...

"Jack... The 456, all of that was a fixed point in time. I can't change what happened there. I can't bring Ianto back." the Doctor whispered.

Jack narrowed his eyes, "Don't speak his name..."

"Jack, please-"

"Doctor, just stop. I don't want to think about anything but here and now." Jack rarely exploded his thoughts and feelings like that. It was strange, unexpected and uncalled for really, but he wasn't going to admit it or apologize. He cleared his throat and put on a smile, shoving away his depression. "Thanks for introducing me to that Alonso guy, by the way." he smirked, effectively throwing the conversation away. He had gotten so accustomed to hiding his pain that it came as an instinct for him.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, probably from both the statement and Jack's quick change in mood. "Right... Well, it was the least I could do." he said, his tone dismissive, but a little victorious glint was in his eyes and a smile played on his lips as if he were proud.

Jack laughed, "I told him I am a Captain, and he saluted me... Our games were quite fun that evening, we started out with a not-so-polite round of Captain Says. Like Simon says, but-"

The Doctor's neck grew a soft shade of pink before he whirled around to face the console. He cleared his throat, "So! Setting the TARDIS on random and OFF we go!"

Jack was glad his was sitting down already as the room shook and rolled. Deflection... Hm? Jack was going to have fun with this Doctor... When the world around him finally stilled, Jack stood up and sauntered over to the front doors, "Shall we, Doctor?" he murmured, holding out his arm for his friend to take.

The Doctor glanced down at Jack's offer as he approached the threshold himself. "Erm, why not?" he grinned, looping his arm through Jack's, the ex-time agent's smile growing wider. "Let's see where the old girl brought us this time!"

He pulled open the door and glanced around. They were in a large, ornate cathedral of sorts.

"Fancy..." Jack murmured, tugging the Doctor out. "But not particularly exciting."

The Doctor froze, and his free hand shot to his jacket pocket, pulling out his sonic.

"Ooh, new screwdriver, too? And this one's bigger..." Jack grinned suggestively, "Can i jump to conclusions about what else might have increased in size?..." his hand was slowly gliding down towards the Doctor's waist.

"Jack, not now!" the Doctor whispered, but Jack could see that blush creep up the Doctor's neck again. 'Not now? So later, then?' Jack wondered.

"What?" he teased out loud, "Just hav-" The Doctor put his finger to his lips and made a sharp, short 'sh', somehow effectively shushing the other man.

"Jack... The statues..." The Doctor gazed around again, and Jack could hear the rapid beat of two hearts.

"What about them?" Jack followed the Doctor's gaze, falling on one of them, "They're just angels, Doctor... We ARE in a church. Speaking of which, there was this one priest I met-"

The Doctor did his magic 'sh' once more, now most of the color drained from his face, and his eyes wide, shooting around the room.  
"Don't blink... Whatever you do, Jack, don't blink..."

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***plays "Blink" by Chameleon Circuit and headbangs***

***clears throat* anyways! PLEASE REVIEW! I'll love you forever! even if you loved or hated it. If you liked it, If anything, at least fave or alert. Anything. It makes me feel all fuzzy inside! :DDD plus it'll help me update faster!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well I'm just going to pretend I'm not disappointed by the feedback to the first chapter. Hopefully this story will pick up a bit… I really do hope it does… :/**

**Please review or fave or alert or something. Let me know I have readers!**

**Another huge thanks to riftintime who helped me realize I had left out and included things that didn't quite make sense, and then went on to explain to me, in more or less words, that my entire life is a lie because Jack's gun is, in fact, spelled "Webley" and not "Webly". I find it odd that it was spelled my way in almost every other fic I've read, though… Guess no one is as awesome as riftintime, right! XD**

**Anyways, enjoy the chapter! I had fun writing it!**

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Back With Jack, Chapter 2

"What does blinking have to do with anything?" Jack hissed, but did as the Doctor said and refrained from blinking. He pulled out his Webley pistol and held it at the ready.

"Weeping Angels." The Doctor murmured, gently leading Jack down the aisle of the church. "They are particularly unfriendly creatures." His eyes kept shooting around the room.

Jack gulped silently as he realized one of the statues had changed position when he wasn't looking.

"From what I can tell," The Doctor continued, now pressing his back to Jack's and still nudging him along, "There are at least three. Which is good, but then again, any Weeping Angels are bad, so really-"

"What do they do, Doctor?" Jack asked, his eyes lingering on one of the statues.

"They have the perfect defense..." The Doctor trailed off slightly, "They turn to stone whenever someone can see them, or if they are under the impression they have been seen. However, as soon as they know you aren't looking, like if you blink, they move faster than anything you have ever encountered. Masters of 'Red Light, Green Light' if you will."

Jack couldn't help but smirk a bit, "You know, there are so many comments I can make about creatures getting hard when I look at them, but obviously now is not the time."

Jack felt the Doctor spin around, and he looked over his shoulder. "Really, Jack?" The Doctor sighed with exasperation, "You haven't changed at all, have you?"

Was Jack mistaken or was there was an amused glint in the Time Lord's eyes? Jack simply shrugged, grinning at his friend.

"Now," The Doctor got back to explaining, "sometimes they'll do something that has gotten me into a mess in my past. They won't kill you if they manage to reach you. They'll just tap your shoulder, send you back in time, and feast on all of the days you never got to experience."

"Sounds like a bit of a hassle." Jack chuckled, "But I get it!" he held his hands up when the Doctor rolled his eyes, "Don't let them touch me."

The Doctor sighed again, for good measure, before turning back around, his sonic at the ready. Jack chuckled and turned back as well before letting out a very feminine shriek.

He stared at a stone face contorted in rage and evil, hands hooked and at the ready for Jack's throat. Trigger-happy as he is, a shot (or four) went off into the Angel's body. However, that did nothing.

"Doctor..." Jack breathed, now trying as hard as ever not to blink.

"Don't look in its eyes, Jack! That happened with Amy, and that was all sorts of... Just don't. Anywhere but the eyes!"

Jack stored the name 'Amy' away for later discussion, and let his eyes trail down to the Angel's chest. "Hm... Are all Weeping Angels female?" he asked fondly, taking in the sight with a childish grin.

The Doctor almost shot Jack another look before remembering he had Angels waiting for him to avert his gaze. He settled for a clearing of his throat, "They appear female. I don't really know what gender they are, but that isn't a problem for you, is it?"

"Nope." Jack popped the 'p'.

The Doctor shook his head slightly, and handed Jack his sonic screwdriver without turning his eyes away from where two other Angels were bound to be lurking in the shadows.

"We are going to try something I have thought about a little, well actually a lot. I think about a lot of things quite often-" The Doctor rambled.

"Doctor!"

"Right! Set it to wavelength 624, press the tip to its temple and hold the button." The Doctor finished.

"What'll that do?" Jack asked, quickly re-holstering his gun. He extended the screwdriver and adjusted the frequency before sliding it back to normal and holding it to the side of the Angel's head, all while not moving his eyes from the creature.

"Imagine a migraine so terrible that you feel like your head will explode." The Doctor said casually.

Jack nodded, "Alright? But will this kill it?"

"Now imagine your head actually exploding."

Jack let out a long breath, "Okay, got it." and with that, he pressed the button on the sonic, almost cringing at the noise. He noticed the stone in front of him start to quake before the entire bust was blown apart.

"But no… it won't kill it." The Doctor said, slightly under his breath.

"What?" Jack thrust the screwdriver in his partner's fingers as the Doctor held his hand out for it.

"You can't kill a stone, Jack!" The Doctor's eyes focused on what was behind the other man. "So... I guess all it is now is a _headless_ Weeping Angel. I don't quite know what that means."

"Well, it can't see. So even if we aren't looking at it, it won't know where to go." Jack pointed out.

The Doctor's face lit up and he grabbed Jack by the shoulders and shook him several times, "Jack, that's it! If we aren't looking at it, then it'll revert back to whatever Angels are when they aren't stone! And then THAT won't have a head, and-"

"It will die!" Jack finished.

The Doctor, still gripping Jack's arms, shook him again and laughed, "Jack Harkness, I could kis-" The Doctor paused and Jack's eyebrows rose slightly, waiting for the sentence to be concluded.

"You could?..."

"Nothing." The Doctor said quickly, moving around Jack and cringing. "Oh, dear."

Jack looked down at the ground where the Doctor was looking. It was a stone body with blood pooled around it, the arms grasping at where the head should have been.

"Not the worst thing I've ever seen." Jack pointed out, "We know how to kill them now. A good sonic to the brain." he nudged the Doctor.  
The Time Lord was off again, sonic screwdriver gripped tightly in his hand. "We need to find the other two. Now." he said. Jack jogged after him, instinctively grabbing his Webley again.

"Put the gun away, it won't do anything!" The Doctor rolled his eyes. Jack huffed but did as he said.

"What can I do, then?" he wasn't used to following someone else's orders. He didn't like it.

"There are still two more."

"How can you be sure there are only two, though?"

"I counted three as soon as we stepped out. I have a nose for danger, Jack, and I spotted them immediately. There are only two more." The Doctor said with utter confidence.

"I trust you." Jack nodded and began searching. He looked around columns and in each dark corner. He started to wonder why it was important for the Angels to be eliminated. They weren't hurting anyone in the church. The place seemed to have been abandoned ages ago. But then… if they were allowed to thrive here without being bothered, why were there only three?

Jack pondered this as he checked around another corner and gasped sharply, covering his mouth and nose to block the new, overwhelming stench. A stench Jack immediately recognized as decomposition.

"Doctor!" he called, just as a very concerned "oh dear" came from the Time Lord's direction.

"Did you find a body, too, Jack?" The Doctor shouted back.

"Oh, yeah… judging by the smell and the looks, it's been about a week." Jack nudged the carcass with his boot before turning around slowly to make sure there weren't any Angels. He tried not to jump as the Doctor popped out from around a column.

"Why would the Angels just leave dead bodies?" Jack asked, "I mean… surely there was a reason for this."

The Doctor shook his head, "I hate this feeling."

"Of what?" Jack laughed slightly, "Standing next to a dead body?"

"No. Of not having the slightest clue what's going on."

Jack frowned. It wasn't often that the Doctor simply didn't know something. It was almost as scary as the Angels.

"Why don't we just get out of here, leave the Angels alone?" Jack motioned over to the TARDIS, which was on the other side of the church.

"They'll keep killing people, Jack! I won't let innocent lives be taken if I can do something to prevent it. You should know how that obligation feels." The Doctor cast him a dark look before running off down the aisles of the cathedral.

Jack let out a long sigh, closing his eyes briefly before running off after his friend.

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The Doctor sat down on one of the pews his back against Jack's again so that the two could have a complete view of the church. They had been sitting there for a while, not quite sure what to do. They assessed what they knew. There used to be three Weeping Angels in the cathedral. One was dead. The Angels could, in fact, be killed. Jack and the Doctor also knew that these particular Angels were out to kill, and five human bodies - all at different stages of decomposition - had been found, the most recent one not more than a few days ago. The older ones showed evidence of feeding my some large mammal. Jack suggested wolves.

What they didn't know, though, was where the last two Angels were or what they wanted. That was obviously a problem.

"One way to get them out could be to close our eyes and wait?" Jack offered, "It's risky, but it could work."

Jack felt the Doctor nod. "Really, death isn't much of a problem for either of us…"

"And if we get sent back in time, I have my Vortex Manipulator." Jack pointed out, "It's all a matter if we are willing to close our eyes long enough."

"On the count of three then?" The Doctor asked.

"Are you serious?"

"I am if you are."

Jack let out another sigh, "On three. One…"

"Two…" The Doctor whispered.

"Three." They said together, both shutting their eyes.

Jack could feel the air shift around him, and his heart, along with the Doctor's, sped up. He was genuinely terrified, even though he knew he shouldn't be.

"Open!" Jack gasped, unable to take it anymore. He let out a stifled shout as he found himself nose-to-nose with an Angel. "Shit," he whispered shakily, making sure he wasn't looking it in the eyes.

The Doctor found himself in an almost similar predicament. "Jack?"

"Doctor?" Jack laughed nervously.

"Good call, but… A bit too close." The Doctor laughed, too.

Jack couldn't help but laugh more, "Where's the fun if there isn't a life-threatening situation?"

"There's no such thing for you!"

"I know, makes everything a little duller," Jack pouted, and the Doctor's chuckle made it seem almost like the Time Lord could see his expression.

"Should I take care of mine first, or…?"

"Go ahead." Jack took a deep breath. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, checking to see that the frequency was still set on stone. He held the end to the Weeping Angel's head and pressed the button. After a few brief seconds, the statue blew, leaving the Doctor coughing.

Jack waited for the Doctor to hand him the sonic and repeated the process. The two men got up, keeping their eyes on their victims before looking into each other's eyes and simultaneously looking away.

Jack heard the two thumps as he knew the bodies fell to the ground. When he dared to look, he held back a gag and quickly moved away. He heard the Doctor cheer and looked up at the Time Lord with a grin, "We did it, Doc!" he laughed.

The Doctor ran up to him and grabbed Jack in his arms, "We did! The people of… wherever we are, are safe now!"

But of course, that could never be the case. Both men tensed up as a long, sharp howl rang through the high walls of the cathedral.

"Wolves?" Jack and the Doctor shouted in exasperation, "The bodies!" They said to each other. They started running towards the TARDIS, which was on the opposite side of the church, just as they heard the eerie click of claws against the stone ground and the low growls of the wolves.

"There are phrases you just need to never say, Doctor!" Jack laughed, vaulting himself over a pew and getting out his Webley, firing off a few shots towards the small pack of wolves, earning some whimpers.

"Oh be quiet, Jack!" The Doctor laughed with him. They were so close to the bright blue doors!

Jack made to launch himself over the last row of pews, but something caught the tails of his coat. He yelped as he fell to the ground and quickly realized it was a wolf. He shouted curses and tried to shoot at the animal which was frantically snapping at Jack's throat. He managed to get the barrel of his Webley pressed into the wolf's side before shooting it. He shoved the body off of him and scrambled up, trying to reach the TARDIS, but the rest of the pack had already descended on him.

"DOCTOR!" he cried as he felt a sharp pain in his arm, then another in his leg.

"JACK!" he heard the Time Lord shout. Jack managed to toss the Doctor his pistol before he fell to the ground and the world went black around him.

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**A/N: WOOHOO! Cliffhangers, ftw! Next chapter will be a talky-walky, explainy-wainy one, with the explanations of Torchwood events for those "too cool" to watch Torchwood.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: OH MY GOSH! After this chapter, I have finally reached 50k words on FF! :O wow, not that any of you care, but yeah.**

**I have decided to get over myself about the reviews thing. I'm getting hits, I know that. Just… I guess it saddens me because I feel like people don't like it. Ah well!**

**To those of you who have reviewed: You're awesome. Even you anonymous ones out there! In fact, one of you is the one who convinced me that I'm not stupid to keep writing this, Mr./Mrs. "I wrote the first review". You know who you are. Your comments make me smile all stupid-like, feel accomplished! XD**

**Thank you (again) to the fantastic **_riftintime_** who I'm surprised hasn't gotten sick of me yet! (hopefully they won't any time soon! As of now, I already have a good idea for the next 4 or 5 chapters, and I need SOMEONE to read over them… :P)**

**ANYWAYS! This chapter is… well so far it's my least favorite… I don't feel like Jack and Ianto's story should be crammed into a fragment of a chapter, but it is necessary for you silly people who don't watch Torchwood. This is an explain-y chapter that does explaining. Of course, given that this is the Doctor and Jack, it has to be interesting, right? I'm getting over myself again and going through with this chapter, and for those of you who don't enjoy it: please just grin and bear it! The other chapters are all fun, I swear!**

**SO as for now, just forgive my meaningless banter and read. Hopefully my intermittent jokes can help cover up the depressing and poor writing…**

**)(Long live Ianto Jones)(**

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Back With Jack, Chapter 3

Jack gasped sharply as he was yanked back into life. He was lying on the floor of the TARDIS console room in a pool of what he knew was his own blood. However, what confused him was the lack of clothing. He was only in his trousers, which were badly torn. He sat up and looked around. The Doctor was nowhere in sight. Jack saw his coat and Webley lying on the console. He holstered his gun and tried to work out where his shirt could be, then the Doctor came strolling in from somewhere deeper in the TARDIS.

"Oh! Jack! You're awake! Excellent!" The Doctor grinned, "Erm… Wolves got to you. Sorry." He muttered, looking very ashamed.

Jack laughed and walked up to his friend, "It's okay, Doctor. Wouldn't be the worst, but sure is a first. Never been mauled to death by wolves before." He shrugged.

The Doctor pursed his lips, "Right, well as long as you won't think it's my fault."

This brought about another round of laughter from Jack. When he finally calmed down, he leaned against the console casually, "So how did you get the wolves off, Doctor?"

"I hate guns." The Doctor muttered, shaking his head and flicking a few switches on the control panel.

The statement sobered Jack up, "Did you use it? My pistol?"

The Doctor pursed his lips, "I really hate guns, Jack…"

"Then how did you deal with the wolves?"

The Time Lord remained silent, and Jack was concerned by the darkness in the Doctor's eyes. Finally he spoke up, "I shot them." He barely whispered, "All four of them."

Jack nodded and squeezed his friend's shoulder to assure him, "Thank you. I understand you don't like using firearms, but you know that sometimes it is necessary."

A short "Yes" and a soft push away were the only replies Jack got.

Jack scratched the back of his head and went to sit down on the small seat that he had fallen in when they had taken off earlier. He remembered the name the Doctor had said earlier. Amy. He wondered if it was a good time to bring her up.

Just as he opened his mouth to say something, though, the Doctor turned around with a smile, "So! Let's go to one of those pleasure planets in the Vegas galaxy, yeah?"

Jack grinned and nodded, "It would be my pleasure." He winked.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and ran about the console, pressing buttons, pulling on things and twisting knobs, and soon the TARDIS was in flight. Jack seized his opportunity.

"Mind telling me who Amy is? Another companion of yours?" Jack asked, making sure not to make himself sound too interested.

The Doctor cleared his throat, "Yes. She was."

Jack watched the Doctor's face carefully, "Was?"

"I brought her back home. I couldn't risk her getting hurt. She and her husband, Rory, are too… Important." The Doctor let out a long sigh before the last word.

"How so?"

"They are the… parents of a very confusing but important woman." The Doctor laughed oddly.

"You've made friends with a lot of important people, Doc." Jack murmured.

"Everybody is important! Never met someone who wasn't." The Doctor smiled, "There are just varying degrees of importance, and River Song is definitely high on the scale."

As much as Jack's curiosity for this new story was growing, he just wanted to know about Amy. "So, this Amy girl. Did she fancy you? There has to be something else here. Your face says more than you know."

The Doctor's lips formed a tight line and he ran a hand back through his hair. "I… its complicated." He sighed.

"Okay? So yes, then." Jack smirked at the Doctor's dirty look.

"Yeah, alright Jack. She _fancied _me." The Doctor rolled his eyes again.

"Did you kiss her?" Jack asked excitedly, his tone equal to that of a teenage girl finding out a good piece of gossip. This question earned Jack an expression of disdain and embarrassment.

"Y-yeah…" The Doctor finally muttered.

"Did you kiss her back?" Jack leaned forward.

"Seriously! You're just like a kid!" The Doctor laughed.

"Well did you?"

"Maybe." The Doctor quipped, not facing Jack anymore.

"Oh you did!" Jack hopped up from the chair and squeezed himself between the Doctor and the console, "OH! And the problem was that she was married-"

"Getting married in the morning!" The Doctor corrected, stepping back slightly.

Jack gasped with mock disapproval, "Oh Doctor, you naughty boy!"

The Doctor laughed, "You don't even know half of the story, Jack."

"I'm all ears." Jack smiled and leaned back on the console. The Doctor's eyes flitted to his chest.

"Oh your shirt! And new pants." The Doctor's eyes widened. He whirled around and sped down a hallway before reappearing with an undershirt, a dark blue button-up and a pair of black trousers for his friend. "The TARDIS just got you something similar to what you were wearing before the wolves tore it up." He handed the stack of clothes to Jack.

He put on the under shirt and clapped his hands together, "Tell me your story."

The Doctor shook his head but did so anyway. He told the story of the girl who waited, from beginning to end, following his timeline and including everything with River. Jack listened intently, adding in comments when he felt necessary, which was quite often, and he made a point of showing how intrigued he was by this man named Rory in a full centurion get-up. When the Doctor was finally done, Jack blew out a long breath before simply saying, "Wow."

"Yeah. One way to put it." The Doctor sighed.

"Girls are a mess to keep up with." Jack winked at him, "Best not to get too involved with them."

"Right, so you're saying I should stick to male companions. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Jack snickered slightly, "I'd like a lot of things from you, Doctor."

"And that's where we stop." The Doctor warned.

"Oh, come ON, Doctor!" Jack shoved him lightly, "I'm just playing around." He paused, his mouth still slightly agape, "Or am I? The world may never know…"

"No, the world knows. The _universe _knows, Jack." The Doctor teased.

"I always like leaving an impression!" Jack grinned.

They sat there laughing with each other for a while before Jack noticed the Doctor staring at him. "What's up, Doc?" he tried to hide a goofy smile at his joke.

"Tell me about him."

"Wh-what?" Jack tried laughing again to shake off the dread. He should have known this was coming.

"Ianto. Tell me about him, Jack. I told you all about the Ponds. We're in a time machine, we have all the time we could ever need! Plus, we have at least another fourth of the universe to cross before we get to the Vegas Galaxy."

Jack frowned and swallowed dryly. He had no desire to tell his story, but he knew he should.

"He uhm… Well where should I start?" Jack asked quietly, losing his exuberance.

"How did he get into Torchwood Cardiff?"

Jack laughed humorlessly. "Funny story actually. His girlfriend, Lisa… The two of them were working for Torchwood London during the battle of Canary Wharf. She was one of the ones taken to be converted into a Cyberman. Luckily, or I guess not really, Ianto managed to get her out before the conversion was completed, so she was only half Cyberman." Jack took a long heavy breath before continuing, "Ianto's plan was apparently to join Torchwood Cardiff so that he could use our technology we had scavenged from the ruins to help Lisa turn back human."

He risked a look at the Doctor who had a darkness in his eyes that Jack knew was associated with ancient enemies like the Daleks and Cybermen. And the battle of Canary Wharf.

"His initial idea of how to get recruited was… Interesting. I first met him when I was out on a solo hunt for a Weevil. You know what those are, right, Doctor?"

The Doctor shook his head slightly, "Maybe by a different name?"

Jack tapped a few buttons on his wrist strap and a hologram of a Weevil materialized. "Ah, yes. Those are a problem around that rift of yours, aren't they? Pesky creatures, I see why you call them Weevils." The Doctor smiled.

Jack nodded and closed the file, "So yeah. He basically helped me take it out. It would have killed me, but I wasn't going to admit that to him. He told me his name. Nothing else. He didn't say he was interested in a job, but he made a point of showing me he knew what he was talking about. He even called Janet a Weevil."

"You _name_ the Weevils you catch?" The Doctor laughed.

"Only Janet!" Jack huffed, crossing his arms.

"Why… Janet though?"

"Barbra just didn't seem right." Jack smirked.

The Doctor shook his head but motioned for Jack to continue.

"That was it." Jack sighed, "I walked off with Janet over my shoulder. He ah… as I left, he complimented me on my coat." He could feel the tears well up and he forced them down. He knew it was going to be hard for him to talk about Ianto, and now he knew it was going to be heart-wrenching if he was already tearing up.

Jack felt the Doctor pat his leg softly and he smiled at his old friend before going on. "Then the next day, I walk out of the front for the Hub, a tourist office, and he's standing there with a cup of… of c-coffee…" Jack's voice broke and he looked away from the Doctor before taking a deep breath and calming himself, "Sorry… A bit emotional over stupid things."

"It's not stupid, Jack." The Doctor reassured him.

Jack nodded and closed his eyes, "He uhm… he was _really _good at making coffee, Doctor. In fact, he tried to use that to get me to hire him! Anyways, I had looked him up earlier and saw that he used to work for London, and you know how much I hated them."

The Doctor only nodded once.

"So I of course, told him no. I wanted no part of him in my Torchwood. I told him there were no vacancies. Of course, the stubborn bastard wouldn't give up. I saw him again when my team and I were out on a mission. He just stepped right in front of the SUV!" Jack laughed, "He showed up in a suit that time. He… he looked amazing in suits." He dazed off slightly before pulling out of his reverie, "Ianto demanded I give him a job. I was about to run over him before he mentioned something about a pterodactyl."

"A pterosaur came through the rift?" The Doctor seemed very amused by that.

"Yeah, so you can see why I was intrigued! He had trapped it in this abandoned warehouse and we worked together to tranquilize it. After that was done, we had a…" Jack paused and chuckled softly, "A moment that must have been awkward for him. He wasn't sure to make of me quite yet, but I enjoyed it. As he walked away, I told him to report for work the next day and told him that I loved the suit. Which I did." Jack grinned like his old self before returning to his wistful expression, "He named the pterodatcyl Myfanwy."

"So a Weevil named Janet and a pterodactyl named Myfanwy?" The Doctor remarked.

"Yup! They were like our kids. Ianto took care of them the most though. He convinced me that night that that was what he was going to do for Torchwood, be a butler of sorts. He'd clean up after us and do all of the paperwork. Plus he could make a damn good cup of coffee."

Jack sighed, his eyes becoming unfocused slightly. He didn't even realize how long he had been silent until the Doctor spoke up.

"What ended up happening with Lisa?"

"She escaped, of course, while Ianto was trying to fix her. We had to kill her, there was no way I was letting anything Cyberman live. You understand that, right? She had to be taken care of. Her death killed Ianto, too. I swear he hated me for it. Things got better, though. I flirted with him, but then again, I flirted with everyone on the team. I guess it got even better when he flirted back. It's weird now, thinking back on it, but at the time I didn't realize how much he and I had grown on each other. One thing had led to another, and I'm sure you would appreciate if I spared you the details of our relationship."

The Doctor nodded rapidly, "Please, do keep that to yourself!"

"What we had wasn't just physical, though. At least, not after I had found you again. When I returned to Cardiff after the year that never was, I asked Ianto out on a proper date. We actually talked about things, and he helped me overcome all of what happened on the Valliant. I finally understood how much he cared about me, and I made sure he got that I felt the same about him. I mean, yeah, we had fun, too. In fact, there was this one time when he had found his stopwatch again and-" Jack was grinning at the memory, but he stopped as sadness appeared in the Doctor's eyes again. "What?"

"He obviously made you very happy… And the 456," He whispered, "I'm so sorry I couldn't help."

Jack's face twisted with pain and he turned away from his friend, "They had come to Earth one time before that whole scene, do you know that? They had asked for 20 children in exchange for a vaccine to an epidemic that would have killed a _lot_ of people. So I found 20 orphans. But when they came back, they wanted ten percent of all of the Earth's children, or they would have killed everyone. Of course, it wasn't my decision to make that time. UNIT and the government had gotten involved, and the sick bastards were willing to do it. To hand over ten percent, as long as it wasn't their own kids." Jack shook his head. "The government blew up the Hub and tried to kill Gwen, Ianto and me. Of course, they were unsuccessful, and Ianto and I managed to make it into Thames House and confront the 456. I was hoping I could talk some sense into them, but…"

Jack shook his head and covered his face with his hands as he felt the tears, "They sent out an airborne virus through all of Thames House, killing everyone. Inclu- Including Ianto. As he was dying in my arms he told me… h-he told me that he loved me. I mean, we both knew what we felt for each other, but we had never vocalized it before. I… I couldn't bring myself to say it back, but now I wish I had." Jack let out a sob as he felt the Doctor's arm wrap around him.

"I know exactly what that feels like, Jack." He whispered, "I know precisely how it feels."

Jack nodded and looked up at the Doctor, "Gwen and a few scientists ended up figuring out how we could kill it, the 456. Wavelengths. But… they needed a child. And the only kid within reach before the 456 was supposed to take up the chosen ten percent was… my grandson, Steven."

The Doctor nodded sadly, "You wouldn't have sacrificed Steven if you hadn't lost Ianto, would you?"

Jack shook his head and let out another sob, "But where would the Earth be now if I hadn't?"

"You've sacrificed so much to save that planet, Jack. We both have. But that's something we need to use to keep us strong. It proves that we are the better people in this universe." The Doctor said somberly.

Jack slowly stood up, "I think this is enough raw emotions to last me another millennia, Doctor." His voice was rough with tears that still lingered, "Care to show me to my room?" he smiled faintly, but not his classic Harkness Grin.

"I'll show you the door to your room." The Doctor said back half-heartedly.

"Hey Doc?" Jack asked softly, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"I don't blame you for anything with the 456." Jack sent him a reassuring smile.

The Doctor nodded and smiled back. The two walked down the hallways of the TARDIS, both of them sad yet content. They were content in knowing they had both found someone who understood just how much of a burden they carried on their shoulders. They were content in knowing that the other was there for them, no matter what.

For the Doctor, Jack had everything he could ever want in a companion: Trust, understanding, vitality and a good sense of humor and adventure.

For Jack, The Doctor was everything he could ever want in a lover for all of the same reasons.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: ****SUPER big thanks to riftintime, who is awesome at being awesome! :D They've helped me realize I'm not the only one who sucks at describing rooms and also despises it. They've also helped me with my terrible spelling and grammar, which, even with spellcheck, is rubbish. Overall, they have made everything much more readable for you guys. Be grateful! XD**

**ANYWAYS! NEW CHAPTER! Awwwwuh yeah! This one gets a bit angsty- aw, who am I kidding. Really angsty. Erm... I don't wanna spoil anything, but it gets... dark, how about that? Yeah? Yeah. Cool beans.**

**Please review, guys. It'll make me love you so much! And I reply via PM to everyone who does, so come on! Please? For my sanity? **

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Back with Jack, Chapter 4

Jack slept a dreamless slumber and woke up to unfamiliar surroundings. He glanced around wildly before his sleep-fogged mind cleared and he remembered that he was in a bedroom of the TARDIS. The Doctor had told him it was officially his room, which had made Jack grin. The room was nice, but simple, which Jack liked.

He stretched and tried to fully wake up before attempting to stand. As soon as he believed he could cross the room and pull his trousers and a shirt on without tipping over, he did so. He opened the door and made his way through the corridors to the console room. He walked in to see the Doctor in his usual get-up, but his suspenders weren't over his shoulders yet and his bow tie hung unfastened around his neck. He was checking a screen and typing furiously.

"Busy morning, Doctor?" Jack laughed softly and scratched his slightly stubbled chin, reminding himself to later ask the Doctor where the bathroom was so he could shave.

The Doctor turned to Jack with a slightly startled expression before looking down at himself and pulling on his suspenders, "More or less. I needed to make sure we actually landed on the right planet."

"Well, did we?" Jack asked, approaching his friend and going to lean against the console before the Doctor stopped him.

"Don't press anything! But yes, we are definitely somewhere in the Vegas galaxy, which is good."

Jack held his hands up, "Okay! Sorry." He chuckled. "Yes, that is good. You've actually landed where you intended to!" he teased.

The Doctor shot him a playful glare before starting to fix his bow tie, still looking at the monitor. "The planet we've landed on is the central one of the galaxy, so there isn't anything particular that it specializes in."

"Oh, shame. A small part of me wanted a planet in the system focused on sex." Jack smirked.

"Right, a _small_ part," The Doctor remarked.

Jack pretended not to hear him. "So will you treat me to buying a hotel room, or are we going to just stay in the TARDIS and not fully appreciate all that this planet has to offer?" he asked with a glint in his eyes at the idea of sharing a room with the Doctor.

"I can use psychic paper to get us a top-floor room in the best place," The Doctor offered. "But I mean, it _would_ be more convenient to sleep here."

Jack nodded. "I was just going to use my charm and good looks, but that works, too. And no! We're getting a room!"

The Doctor let out a small sigh of exasperation before grabbing his tweed jacket from where it lay on the console. "I want you to know I cannot believe I'm doing this."

"I've heard people will do crazy things to be with me, this isn't the worst." Jack laughed and slipped into his greatcoat, which he assumed the TARDIS had cleaned and left for him by the door.

The Doctor gave Jack a swift look before opening the doors and peeping out before smiling slightly. "I've never been here before, Jack. This is actually really exciting now that I think about it!" He beamed at his companion before disappearing through the doors.

Jack followed, right on his heels. "I suggest we find something to do and just get the hotel room later."

The Doctor nodded and continued to walk, his eyes everywhere but in front of him.

Jack looked around the city as they stepped out of the alleyway the TARDIS had landed in. Tall buildings with gigantic, brightly lit signs surrounded them. A mixture of music from clubs, the recognizable sound of slot machines, and the overall bustle of the city assaulted Jack's ears, only making his grin widen. The entire city radiated with energy and excitement, and Jack was feeding off of it. He could tell the Doctor was too.

"Right! It's-" The Doctor paused and looked down at the watch on his wrist and then up at the sky. "About 10 minutes, relative time, until midnight."

"That's when everything gets better," Jack whispered eagerly, clapping his hands together once and scanning over the signs of several night clubs.

"Come on, then! Let's go have some fun, Jack!" The Doctor quickly made his way through the growing crowd and Jack easily kept up with him.

"Let's get a few drinks first?" Jack suggested.

The Doctor seemed hesitant before nodding and giving a small shrug, "Sure!"

Jack grasped the Doctor's hand and tugged him a bit further down the main street before leading them into a large bar.

The place was lowly lit, with deep, booming music playing around them. Species Jack recognized, and others he didn't, milled around him, either socializing with each other or sitting by themselves. Jack couldn't keep his gaze from lingering on a few of the patrons, but then he remembered who he had with him, and he knew that he'd rather have the Doctor over any of the other creatures around him.

"Do you drink, Doctor?" Jack asked with amusement as he sat down and ordered a shot of hypervodka to start himself off.

The Doctor shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh yeah… Of course! I mean, It's not like I've lived for over 900 years and never had a drink before. I love drinking with friends."

Jack raised an eyebrow and asked the bartender for a second shot, scooting the glass over to his companion. "Alright then, bottoms up." Jack grinned at him, seeing through the Doctor's front.

The Time Lord looked down at his drink warily before taking it and grinning at Jack, "To having a good time and a break from saving the universe."

"Cheers!" Jack laughed and tossed back the vodka, grunting faintly at the intense burn. He watched the Doctor with a wry smile on his lips.

"Stop looking at me like that!" The Doctor huffed.

"Then drink." Jack chuckled.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes and repeated Jack's actions, except he lurched forward, coughing and spluttering after he'd downed the drink. "What the _hell_ is _that_?" he gasped.

Jack burst out laughing again, doubling over slightly at the Doctor's expression, "It's hypervodka, Doc. Some strong stuff, right?" he managed to get out.

The Doctor wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "I hate drinking. Drinking is… is _not_ cool."

Jack couldn't stop his laughter as the Doctor looked disdainfully down at his half-empty glass. "How about I get you a ginger ale then, Doctor? Can you handle that?" he snickered.

The Doctor scoffed but didn't throw back a witty reply. "In fact, I _would_ like a ginger ale, thanks, Jack." He sneered playfully.

Jack shook his head, trying to calm his breathing. "Order one, then. I'll pay for everything tonight."

When the Doctor got his new drink, he sipped at it carefully before apparently deciding it was okay. Jack got himself a glass of Scotch and cast his gaze across the bar, idly thinking about what the Doctor would be like drunk.

"How do people enjoy that feeling?" The Doctor muttered, rubbing his throat.

Jack glanced over at his friend with an amused chuckle. "It's not really the burn as much as it is the warmth you feel in your chest afterwards. Wait for it."

The Doctor laughed and felt at his ribs. "Oh, that? Hm… Alright. I guess I can see it."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Admit it, you kind of want more, don't you?"

The Doctor let out an indignant snort before clearing his throat and mumbling in agreement. Jack laughed and offered the Doctor a sip of his drink. The Time Lord took the glass in his hand and pursed his lips slightly before taking a generous gulp.

His eyebrows rose up as he felt the burn again, but not as strong this time. He still coughed slightly but the heat and slightly giddy feeling spread through him once more.

Jack told him that he could keep the rest and simply ordered another for himself.

The two made small talk about the city and possible plans and then started exchanging stories about their past adventures. There was no mention of Ianto or Amy, though. They both knew it wasn't the time.

* * *

After three hours, the Doctor was on his ninth round, while Jack was only on his fourth.

He hadn't been sure, at first, if Time Lords could become intoxicated, but it was evident by drink number five that they could. The Doctor had become even more animated with his tales, and his already rapid speech became slurred and even more unintelligible. Jack knew they should probably be finding a place to stay for the night. Even though the evening hadn't turned out as he had planned, he was still enjoying himself, and he had a feeling the Doctor was, too.

Eventually, he paid for their drinks and dragged a very drunk Doctor out of the bar, one of the Time Lord's arms hooked over his shoulders. As they made their way to the nicest hotel Jack could pick out, the Doctor kept mumbling about settings on his sonic screwdriver, something with cats, and then a collection of words that Jack wasn't sure he'd understand even if his friend was completely sober.

Jack approached the reception desk of the modern and elite hotel. "Hi there…" he murmured to the young, female attendant. "I'm looking for a room, preferably on the top floor?"

The receptionist looked up at him from her holographic computer screen, her eyes widening. "Oh," she straightened up in her seat and smoothed out her uniform before smiling softly up at Jack. "Top floor, sir?"

"Yes please, but I don't want to be any trouble." Jack put on his most charming smile.

"Oh no, sir! No trouble at all!" She smiled widely back at him and quickly typed on her keyboard. "We… appear to be completely booked for the top floor, sir," she murmured, casting her gaze down.

Jack pouted slightly and waited until she looked up again, locking his eyes with hers. "Isn't there anything you can do? Surely a woman as beautiful as you could find me a room."

The attendant seemed to become flustered as she frantically typed some more. "Well would you look at that! We seem to have just gotten a... erm… cancellation!" She winked at him.

"Perfect." Jack winked back at her, "What's the room number?"

"Oh!" His question seemed to pop her out of some reverie. "Yes! Room 1042, top floor." She scrambled around and handed Jack a room key and Jack took it with a grateful nod.

"And what name is the room under?" she asked shyly.

"Harkness. Jack Harkness." he murmured smoothly. "And you are?"

"A-Alyce," she stammered. "Enjoy your visit, Mister Harkness."

"I think I will, Alyce. Thank you." Jack hoisted the Doctor up a bit more, and the receptionist just seemed to have noticed the other man as the two of them walked away.

"Oh, sir?" she called.

"Yes?" Jack looked over his shoulder.

"It only has one bed…" Alyce gave a meaningful look to the seemingly unconscious man in Jack's arms.

"All the better." Jack winked before approaching the lift, chuckling at the woman's disappointed expression.

He managed to get the Doctor inside the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. The Time Lord's head rolled around on his shoulders lazily.

"That's funny, Jack…" The Doctor mumbled. "She said there's only… only one bed, and you sounded happy. Are you sleeping on the floor or something?"

Jack laughed and patted the Doctor's shoulder. "Would you like me to, Doc?"

"Oh, no no no!" The Doctor waved him off and snorted, "That'd be so incredibly rude of me! You'll just have to be okay with sharing, then."

Jack pursed his lips to hold back a booming laugh. "Guess so, Doctor."

They reached the top floor and Jack tugged the Doctor down the hallway to their room. He slid his key card through the lock and the door slid open to reveal a high-end, multi-room suite. The entire place had a futuristic – or modern from a resident's standpoint - style to it. The entrance opened up straight into the sitting room with a large television and a collection of sleek couches and chairs made from a material Jack couldn't place. To his right was the kitchenette with metallic counters, stocked with the conveniences of a refrigerator, a microwave and something Jack assumed was a stove.

He made it over to a pair of doors, now struggling with the Doctor's weight, which he was sure the Time Lord was carrying none of himself. One of the doors had to be the bathroom and the other the bedroom, Jack decided. He tried one and let out a breath of relief as he saw a king-sized bed in a room just as advanced as the rest of the suite. He got the Doctor onto the mattress and shook his head as he took in the disheveled appearance of his friend.

"Oh, Doctor. Why did I let you drink so much?" Jack asked softly. He got out of his coat and hung it over a small chair in the corner before undressing down to his undershirt and boxers. As he went to climb into the bed next to the Doctor he hesitated, not sure if he should. He decided he didn't care enough at the time to worry too much and plopped down right next to the Doctor.

However, Jack realized that in his own time-line, it had only been four or five hours since he'd woken up. He laughed at the idea and simply laid there and tried to sort his thoughts.

He wasn't sure what he wanted to happen between the Doctor and him. On one hand, he felt like any involvement with the Doctor was a betrayal of Ianto. While Jack had slept with plenty of other people since Ianto's death, he never formed any emotional attachments. It had been nothing more than meaningless physical gratification, a temporary distraction from his overwhelming grief. With the Doctor it was different, and any attempt at something between them would require a degree of the devotion and loyalty he had given Ianto. While he knew Ianto would want him to move on and find some happiness again, Jack wasn't sure if he even deserved to find a measure of happiness again, no matter how fleeting.

On the other hand, the Doctor was someone Jack had wanted ever since they had met. Before, he had simply held back because he could tell that Rose meant something to the Time Lord, then Jack had eventually met Ianto, and while the allure of the Doctor had still remained, it hadn't been as strong. But now Ianto was gone, his emotions were a wreck, and all he wanted was someone to love and for them to love him back. He felt like he could have that with the Doctor if his friend would just open his mind to the possibility.

Part of Jack despised that the Doctor denied him on a regular basis, but the rest of him had a feeling that it was the Doctor's way of deflecting any truthful answers without really lying straight to Jack's face. That theory made Jack smirk and steal a glance at the man next to him, who was still fully clothed.

"Doctor, Doctor…" Jack whispered, sitting up slightly and deciding to help his friend out of his jacket, bow tie, suspenders and shoes. He chuckled as the Doctor made no sign of being cognizant of Jack's actions. Jack tossed the accessories into a pile at the foot of the bed and managed to get the blanket over the Doctor before laying down next to him, but keeping a cautious distance.

He let out a long sigh as a war waged within him. He needed someone. He knew that much. He also knew the Doctor could be that someone. The only difficulties he could really see were the Doctor's wariness and the idea of severing his emotional attachment to Ianto. The latter was the more prominent of Jack's concerns.

He cursed out loud and thumped his head against the headboard, trying to figure out what to do. He didn't want to forget what he'd had with Ianto. His promise to Ianto weighed heavily upon him; his promise to never forget him. He didn't want to just move on. However, he wanted to be with the Doctor. He wanted to find some meaning to his existence again.

He felt tears spring up in his eyes and he wept silently, hoping now wasn't the time the Doctor would decide to resurface from his alcohol-induced slumber.

Jack took in a shaky breath, trying to calm himself, but was unsuccessful. He needed air. He needed a roof.

He clumsily pulled his trousers back on and grabbed his coat from the chair, not bothering with his over shirt. He walked out the door of the suite and found the stairs. He climbed a single flight, grateful for having a top-floor room. He emerged on the rooftop and looked out across the city as he strode up to the edge, stopping when he felt a low wall hit his knees. He swallowed dryly and let more tears fall, the wind pushing them back towards his ears. He wiped at his face with his palms and sniffed softly, feeling absolutely pitiful and disgusted with himself.

He was Jack Harkness. _Captain_ Jack Harkness. He shouldn't have to deal with situations like this. He should be saving the universe by day and doing whatever the hell he wanted by night. He should be strong, brave and invincible.

Yet, despite his immortality, he didn't feel any of those things. He felt weak and compromised by petty emotion. He felt worthless.

He stepped up onto the wall that had stopped him and looked down for the first time. He was 41 stories up. He shook his head as the familiar sensation swept over him; the one that told him just to jump. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, taking in a deep breath. He was ready. All he would have to do was lean forward slightly, and gravity would take care of the rest.

The wind picked up around him, threatening to push him back to safety, but Jack wouldn't let it. He didn't hear the door from the stairwell open, and he didn't hear the uneven footsteps behind him.

Just as he was about to step off, though, he did hear one thing. Just one thing in a voice he had only recently heard but had already grown to love and trust.

"Jack, don't!"

But it was too late. Jack let himself fall.

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**A/N: Oh no! I wonder how Jack will survive this one!... ... ... Review or he DIES! e-e Who the hell am I kidding, that won't work. XD**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey, follow me on Twitter! (a)TheDeathKitsune**

**What has my life come to? I'm sitting here listening to Showtunes on Pandora while reading over the 5****th**** chapter of a slash fic for Doctor Who. If you had asked me 2 years ago if I would be doing this, I would look at you like you were nuts, laugh a bit nervously and turn away… XD **

**Ah, screw past me! I love what my life has come to! Oh yeah, and Doctor Who Dubstep. :3**

**Super gigantic thanks to riftintime, as always! :D This chapter got really hard for me right in the middle, and they helped sort out my thoughts and everything, even though they probably have far better things to do with their free time.**

**Reviews are nice, that's all I'm gonna say about that, and yeah! Enjoy! :D I sure as hell did.**

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Back With Jack, Chapter 5

Jack groaned as he woke up with an overwhelming pain throughout his entire body. He sat up and all of the memories of what happened before he died flooded back to him. He vaguely remembered coming back to life in the Doctor's arms and being laid down on the couch, but the rest was a blur. He realized he must have fallen asleep. He looked at a curtained window and saw sunlight bright behind it. Apparently he had slept through the night…

He stood up and knocked softly on the bedroom door before peeking inside. He frowned when he couldn't see the Doctor, but then he heard the shower water running and what Jack assumed was supposed to be singing.

He rolled his eyes and sat down on the bed, his shoulders slumping as he saw the TARDIS parked in the corner.

"Of course you would…" Jack mumbled. He pursed his lips as he realized the Doctor was probably going to ask him a lot of questions about last night. As he tried to sort out what to say, the bathroom door opened and the Doctor walked out with a towel wrapped loosely around his waist. His face was covered by another towel he was using to dry his hair, and Jack held back an immature snicker. He couldn't stop his wandering eyes, though.

"Good morning," Jack said evenly, effectively causing his friend to jump and let out a yelp of surprise.

"Jack! Wh-wh-what, you're awake!" he stammered, all movement of his body frozen.

"Astute observation." Jack smirked, leaning back on his elbows.

The room was silent for a whole two minutes before the Doctor cleared his throat, adjusted his towel and mumbled that Jack could take a shower now if he wanted to. Jack got up and thanked the Doctor warmly before slipping out of his coat, hanging it on the chair again and strolling into the bathroom.

He looked at himself in the mirror, frowning slightly at the stubble before shrugging and giving his reflection a wink. He chuckled at himself, undressed and stepped into the shower, turning the water as hot as it would go. He hummed softly as the steady patter of the water and the rising steam calmed him down. He quickly washed his hair and then just stood in the shower, basking in the serenity of his surroundings.

His mind drifted off to a memory of a moment he and Ianto had shared in the showers at the Hub. He shuddered slightly and couldn't help but grin as he remembered the way his lover had pushed him into a corner and so easily taken control of the situation.

Without having intended to, the memory had left Jack slightly more excited than he really wanted. He sighed and took himself in his hand, quickly relieving his problem. He pursed his lips as he caught his breath and realized what he had just done. He hadn't been thinking about Ianto at all. He had been fantasizing about the Doctor.

Given the events of the previous night and Jack's still unstable conscience, the revelation didn't settle well. He scrambled for the tap and turned the water icy cold, gasping as he was chilled down to the bone. Why was this so difficult for him? It shouldn't be like this. He should be able to enjoy himself with the Doctor! This was the only time he had ever been truly alone with the Time Lord, yet while he _was_ flirting, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Jack knew he could do whatever he wanted if he just put his mind to it, so why wasn't he trying?

He turned the water off, attempting to clear his mind of the troubling thoughts, as he reached for a towel. He cursed out loud when he discovered there wasn't one.

Jack stepped out of the shower and looked around the bathroom to make sure he wasn't just missing it. Still no towel.

He blew a deep breath out from between his lips and shook himself slightly to try and get some of the moisture off him. He paused as he heard a knock on the door.

"Jack, did you grab a towel? I just realized you might not have one and-"

Jack had opened the door with a wide grin on his face, all of his worries pushed back for the time being, "No, I didn't, Doctor," he murmured, walking past the obviously astonished Time Lord and taking the towel from his hands.

"I- I was going to just… hand it to you from the other side of the door…"

"Yeah, this was faster." Jack winked, using the towel to dry his face and hair, not bothering with covering himself, "And a hell of a lot more fun."

"Th-the TARDIS." the Doctor stuttered. "Sh-she got you clean clothes. They're on the bed." His face was a deep shade of pink, and Jack could tell he was doing everything in his power to look at anything but his companion. Eventually they both turned away from each other.

Jack laughed softly as he saw the bundle of clothes and pulled on his boxers and trousers. "Okay, Doc, I'm decent," he taunted softly.

The Doctor looked over his shoulder warily before completely turning towards him again. "Now, Jack. I think we have somethi-" He paused and sighed. "Put a shirt on. We have something important to talk about."

"Ooh, serious conversation!" Jack said with a not-so-serious tone. He did as the Doctor asked anyway and pulled on the white undershirt. "Better?"

"Yes. Now tell me what you were expecting to accomplish on that rooftop last night," the Doctor said, his eyes dark and showing nothing but sadness and concern.

Jack's smile faded quickly, and he slumped over, his head hanging low. "I don't know…" he mumbled. "Rooftops usually help calm me down. I don't normally jump."

"What made you jump this time? Did I say something when I was drunk, which by the way, you knew would happen, didn't you?" The Doctor narrowed his eyes.

"That you would get thoroughly wasted?" Jack asked carefully, avoiding the first two questions. "No, I did not. It was amusing though."

"So was it something I said? I really, _really_ hope I didn't say something terrible." The Doctor frowned.

Jack just shook his head, closing his eyes and wanting nothing more than to just teleport away from where he was. He didn't want to talk about this.

"Was it about Ianto?"

Jack's eyes shot open and he stared at the Doctor with desperation. He couldn't take this. "Not just him…" he managed to croak out.

"What else then?" The Doctor's head tilted to the side slightly and he stepped closer to his friend. Jack smiled faintly, momentarily touched by the Time Lord's concern, but then he remembered their situation. The Doctor had no idea what he did to people, did he? Jack shouldn't want him, but he did. He wanted him so badly…

"You, Doctor. I was thinking about you!" Jack threw his hands in the air. "Then I thought about Ianto and I realized what a _mess_ my life is without him! I hoped being with you again would help me… I hoped it would help me to move on… but it hasn't!" He fell back on the bed and rubbed his face with his hands.

The Doctor cleared his throat, "Jack… I…" He stopped, causing Jack to look at him through his fingers.

"What?" Jack sneered. "Are you running out of clever ways of turning me down, Doc? Are you realizing I'm not what you signed up for? Do you regret picking me up at such a shitty point in my time-"

"I don't know what to tell you, Jack!" The Doctor shouted, his breathing rapid before he managed to calm himself down. "I don't understand what it is with you, but even though I know who you are and what your intentions are, I still feel drawn to you and it confuses me. If you would get over yourself and give me some time, maybe you wouldn't throw yourself off roofs."

Jack's gaze softened and he sat up slowly, "Doctor-"

"What exactly about Ianto and I made you kill yourself?" the Doctor interrupted.

"Why do you care?" Jack grumbled, closing right back up at the harshness of the question.

"Because I am responsible for all of my companions, no matter how… resilient they are."

Jack pushed himself off the bed and took a step towards the Doctor, "So I'm just a companion, then? I don't mean anything more to you?"

"That's not what I meant!" The Doctor said with a desperate tone in his voice.

Jack glared at the Doctor who stared coldly back at him.

"Then what did you mean, Doctor?" Jack whispered in a calculating tone. He was tired of having his emotions messed with like this. "Because you seem to be the king of mixed signals here."

"I meant that I… well I feel even more accountable for your safety than with the others…" the Doctor stopped and pursed his lips, "Your condition is entirely my fault, and I feel… well, _guilty_ about it. I just don't like the idea of putting you through any more pain."

Jack let out a long sigh, "You haven't done anything, Doctor. It's all me, really. I just…" He couldn't admit it to the Doctor. Not out loud. He couldn't say what he really wanted. He settled for another truth. "I want to travel with you forever, and _we_ can do that! You and me, Doctor, we'd be unstoppable!"

"I don't have forever, Jack… and I can't become attached to any-"

"Stop making excuses!" Jack barked. He was fed up with all of the things the Doctor said to avoid a true answer, and that's what Jack needed; a true answer. He needed to know that it was safe to invest his emotions if he was going to move on. He would never forget Ianto. Never. However, that didn't mean he couldn't have some happiness again. If nothing else, it's what Ianto would have wanted. If only the Time Lord would just be straightforward with him.

The Doctor crossed his arms.

"Oh, And by the way, if I were a king of anything, it would _not_ be mixed signals!" the Doctor mumbled, "That's a stupid thing to be king of."

Their eyes remained locked and their faces were only a few inches apart. The air crackled with tension, but the intensity of the situation soon dissolved when they realized how ridiculous they were being and snickered together. Jack knew he could never stay mad at the Doctor. They had experienced too much together.

And they were both too good at hiding their emotions. Jack had a feeling that the argument would continue later, but he chose not to think about that for the moment.

Suddenly, he Doctor hugged Jack tightly. "Jack, don't beat yourself up over these things. Just know that I do care about you, okay?"

Jack cherished the feeling of the Doctor's arms around him, a genuine grin spreading across his face. "I know, Doctor. Look… let's just go and get some breakfast!" he broke free of the embrace and slipped on his over-shirt before grabbing his coat. He turned to his friend, grabbing his wrist and tugging him out of the suite and into the elevator.

"This is a very nice hotel, Jack. How much is it and whose heart did you break to get the room?" the Doctor teased.

Jack smirked. "I didn't break anyone's heart. Just a bit of harmless flirting." He bit back a snicker. "I made sure the receptionist knew I was taken."  
"Right, harmle- Wait, taken?" the Doctor asked incredulously.

"Oh, nothing." Jack murmured, trying to mask his amused smile.

The Doctor continued to stare at him until they reached the ground floor. As the doors of the lift opened again, the two men stepped out and Jack made his way to the exit.

At first, the Doctor followed him, but the Time Lord stopped in his tracks and turned to one of the extensions of the lobby.

"They have muffins! So many kinds of muffins! I love muffins!" The Doctor exclaimed and marched over to the long buffet tables of food, taking an empty plate and starting to fill it up

Jack laughed and grabbed a plate, too. "Are you going to have anything but muffins, Doc?" He read the little holographic screens in front of each platter that said what each dish was. He passed on all the muffins, but one name caught his attention. His eyes widened as he remembered what they did to people. He was on a pleasure planet after all, why wouldn't the food services offer them?

He had been coaxed into trying the exact same kind of muffin back when he worked for the Time Agency. His mind had been taken over by raw desire and need for physical contact, which now that he thought about it was probably what his friends were after. He had ended up sleeping with all five of them within an hour before he passed out.

As he continued behind the Doctor, he noticed two of the pink pastries on his friend's plate. If the Doctor ate those, there was no telling just how out of hand things would get. That could be a good thing though, couldn't it? Jack groaned mentally as he was faced with another bout of internal conflict. Why couldn't things just be simple?

He knew he could just tell the Doctor what the muffins did, and then offer to throw them away for him. Or he could not say anything and reap the benefits of his friend's uninhibited state…

He held his tongue as he walked up to the platters of sausage, which he knew was actually alien meat. He put a generous amount on his plate before making his way over to the bagels and getting one of those as well. He eyed the coffee station warily before taking a deep breath and filling up a cup. He found the Doctor sitting at a table and eagerly eating his food, which basically consisted of one plate of muffins and a smaller plate of fruit. Jack sat down across from him and took a bite from his bagel. His eyes never left the two pink muffins.

"Hey, Jack!" The Doctor laughed, holding up a banana. "Banana's are good, yeah?"

Jack couldn't help but laugh. "That was so long ago! It doesn't feel like it, but then again, it does. You had a very different face back then, Doc."

"I still can't get the nose right with these regenerations! At least the ears are better." The Doctor tugged on his ear with his free hand before going back to eating.

"That was before I was immortal…" Jack whispered.

"You were still making money from conning people," the Doctor said with a full mouth.

"It was a good job!" Jack said defensively, but he was laughing again. He finished off his food and sipped at his coffee, trying not to think about how terrible it tasted compared to Ianto's.

Soon, they were caught up in another conversation about their adventures, this time about ones they had shared. Jack was distracted once again from the serious matters of the never-ending war of his conscience, but he was broken out of his false sense of carelessness as he saw the Doctor pick up one of the muffins. Jack swallowed dryly and time seemed to stand still. Everything seemed to come down to that one moment. He almost snorted as he realized his future with the Doctor probably relied on a muffin; a stupid pink muffin.

Could he do it? Could Jack truly move on from Ianto, and try to start something with the Doctor? He was faced with the same exact thoughts as the night before, but now everything seemed to be brought into perspective. Then it dawned on him that it could be simplified into whether or not he wanted to be happy. Taking out who was that were involved, one choice lead him down a path that, in the long run, could make him so much happier than he was, while the other simply made him continue his miserable existence in the pit of self-pity that he had thought was a new normal for him. Of course, he wanted to be happy. Common sense dictated that he would be wise to go with the first choice.

Using that logic, Jack decided in less than three seconds - though it seemed much longer for him - that he wasn't going to say a word about the muffins. The Doctor would eat both of them, and then he would be all over Jack. His eyes would be opened to all of the possibilities that had been waiting for him for so long.

The Doctor picked up one of the muffins and took a huge bite, his eyebrows raising. "These are amazing!" he exclaimed, quickly finishing the pastry off. "You should get one for yourself." he said as he started on the second one.

There was no going back now, Jack realized. "I… I'm fine, Doctor. I'm full."

The Doctor simply shrugged and soon finished off the rest of his breakfast. Jack watched him the entire time, his body tense and his heart beating fast. Why was he nervous? He shouldn't be nervous, he should be excited!

Besides, old habits die hard, and he couldn't help but smirk as the Doctor cast him a dark look. His friend's eyes showed everything that he had been hiding from Jack. A suspicion of the Doctor's undisclosed desires led Jack to utter four dangerous words.

"I forgot something upstairs…" he whispered, leaning forward slightly. This was it.

"Oh did you?" the Doctor hummed softly, leaning in as well, "Maybe we should go get it?"

Jack was about to chuckle, but the sound caught in his throat as he saw confusion and bewilderment overcome the Doctor's features. "Why did I say it like that?"

Jack pursed his lips and stood up abruptly. "Come on, Doctor, it's nothing. Let's just go get my… Webley! I forgot my gun back in the room." He subtly adjusted his coat so that the Time Lord wouldn't be able to see he was lying. "You know I don't feel safe without it, and you gotta be prepared!"

The Doctor nodded, the worry clearing from his face. "Right then. Let's go get it."

The two of them walked back to the lift. Jack could feel the Doctor's eyes on him as they rode it back to their room. He tried to calm himself down, knowing he'd need to remain level-headed with what he was going to face. It was going to change everything. He knew it would.

Jack didn't even take three steps into the suite before he was yanked back by the collar of his coat and pushed into the wall. He laughed, unable to keep silent.

"Well, hi there," he murmured, smirking at the Doctor.

"What the hell was in those muffins? The little pink ones?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but if all of a sudden you've changed your mind…" He trailed a finger down the Doctor's chest. He was so close…

The Time Lord grabbed Jack's wrist and pinned it up above Jack's head. "Stop! There was something in them. I don't know what, but now I feel… funny," he mumbled.

Jack shook his head, chuckling under his breath. "Funny how?"

"I… I feel the need to… I want to-" The Doctor's eyes were running up and down Jack's body quickly before he pushed himself back, "I can't do it! I won't let it work on me."

"What are you talking about?" Jack laughed nervously, hoping the Doctor wouldn't notice.

"Jack, I think something's poisoned me because I feel like I need to…" The Doctor ran his hands back through his hair and locked eyes with his friend. "Touch you."

Jack pursed his lips to hold back a smirk and hooked his fingers under the Doctor's braces pulling him against his chest. "Give in to it, then, Doc. That's what these planets are about! You're supposed to give in to your desires and not give a damn about the repercussions."

As the words left his lips, he realized he was also speaking to himself. They were on a pleasure planet, he could do whatever he wanted, and not care about the consequences. Jack trailed a hand up the Doctor's chest, tugging at the bow tie before it became undone.

The Doctor's eyes showed the level of absolute conflict raging in his mind, something Jack could relate to. Jack could see the hunger and lust brought on by the Time Lord's surroundings, but also the reserve and moral conscious telling him that he shouldn't. That this was wrong.

"What's so wrong about it? Is it because I'm another man or because I'm your companion?" Jack whispered in the Doctor's ear, his hands dropping to the Time Lord's hips and pulling him closer. Jack let out a breathless chuckle as he felt the extent of the Doctor's arousal press against him. Jack rolled his hips and let out a groan for the Doctor, wanting some response from the man who had remained rigid and perfectly still.

"Jack Harkness..." the Doctor managed out, his voice thick.

Jack pulled back to look him in the eyes. "Yeah, Doc?" he murmured. He could tell that this was another defining moment, but now the choice was the Doctor's. Jack didn't have any of the pressure of making the decision.

The Doctor shook his head, before crushing his lips to Jack's. Jack tried to not act surprised by the force behind the kiss as he tangled a hand in the Doctor's hair and started to push him towards the bedroom door. The two of them stumbled in as the door opened and Jack slipped out of his coat and pushed the Doctor's jacket off as well. The Doctor pulled at Jack's shirt as Jack was trying to unbutton it.

"You in a hurry?" He laughed, shoving the Doctor down on the bed, slipping out of his braces and finishing what the Time Lord had started on his shirt.

"Don't mock me, Harkness." The Doctor growled and pulled Jack down next to him. "I'm telling you there was something in those muffins!"

"Get over it, Doc!" Jack rolled his eyes and started on the buttons of the Doctor's shirt, "It's not hurting anything."

As the two hurriedly undressed each other, Jack wondered how true those words were. Would this experience have a detrimental effect on their already confusing relationship? In the heat of the moment, though, Jack brushed off his doubts and gave in to his body, just like he had been willing the Doctor to do. This was him moving on and finding happiness again, and there was no harm in the fact that the Doctor was completely willing.

Jack finally got what he had been after for over two-hundred years.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: (a)TheDeathKitsune (Follow me on twitter! :D)**

**Well shucks, guys... :3 People are really liking this, huh?**

**Thanks to all of you who review! I wish I had a way to thank all of you Guest reviewers personally like I can for everyone else, but alas, I cannot. Please accept this all-encompassing THANK YOU, you wonderful people! :D**

**And, as usual, ginormous thanks to riftintime, who still helps me out, even though they have their own stories and real life to deal with. In all honesty, though, this story wouldn't be nearly as well-written if riftintime wasn't here.**

**Thanks, as well, to CarpeDiemForLife who was supporting me and keeping my spirits up while I was writing this. :D**

**Enough of that, y'all want a story, yeah? :D This one is a lot shorter than chapter 5. Originally, it was a WHOLE lot longer, but then I realized I could just have an entire second chapter from the last half, so yeah! Here is chapter 6. The morning after… *cue dramatic music***

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Back with Jack, Chapter 6

Jack lay there on the bed, completely naked next to an equally unclothed Doctor. The two were breathing rapidly, basking in the afterglow of what they had just done. The Doctor's pupils were dilated and unfocused, a lazy smile on his lips. Jack assumed he had the same expression. He hadn't felt that happy and hadn't experienced pleasure quite like that since his last intimate moment with Ianto…

Lust had overcome the both of them, but while Jack knew he had the ability to stop at any time, the Doctor had possessed absolutely no control. Jack had taken advantage of that, though his partner didn't know that quite yet.

Jack stole a glance at the Doctor and he smiled faintly as he saw the Time Lord was fast asleep; a side effect of the muffins. Jack was glad, though. He needed time to sort out his thoughts.

While Jack was pretty confident that the Doctor had never been with another man before, it was obvious he wasn't a virgin. Once Jack had shown him what to do, the Doctor was, as Jack had predicted, perfect at it. It had been even more satisfying than he had ever imagined.

Jack watched the slow rise and fall of the Time Lord's chest, and in the silence of the hotel room, he could faintly hear the unique heartbeat of his friend. Hesitantly, Jack leaned over and lifted his head onto the Doctor's chest. The four-beat pattern made Jack grin softly, almost making him drift off to sleep.

He forced himself to sit up and grabbed his boxers, pulling them on before standing up and walking over to the bedroom window. It wasn't that much later than lunch time, and Jack knew the Doctor was going to be out for at least another hour.

He ran a hand back through his hair and let out a breathless chuckle as he looked out over the city and replayed the events in his head. He had finally slept with the Doctor! Part of him wondered if it had just some sort of dream that he was having, but it all had felt too real.

He pressed his forehead against the window and watched his slow breaths fog up the glass. Everything was different now. Did he really want to follow through with his plan to move on? No, he didn't want to call it moving on… that would imply that he didn't love Ianto anymore.

But he loved the Doctor, too didn't he? Ianto would have wanted him to be happy. Jack kept telling himself that. If the Doctor made him this happy, then why did he feel… guilty?

It had been over a year in Jack's time line since the young Welshman's death, and in that time, Jack had constantly wondered what Ianto would want for him. Jack had promised not to forget him, but Jack couldn't work out if that meant that Ianto didn't want him to be with anyone else.

Jack sighed and hit his head against the window once. Ianto would have wanted him to find someone else, right? That's just what Jack had done. He had found the Doctor again, and now he was more cheerful than he had been in quite a while. Jack laughed quietly as he realized he was thinking way too much into the situation. He just needed to make things simple, and the simple fact was that while he would always love Ianto and never wanted to forget him, he had found someone else who made him happy, and that's all Jack should have to care about.

He turned around with a grin on his face and climbed back into bed with the Doctor. He pursed his lips as he reached forward and brushed stray hairs from the other man's face. Jack loved the Doctor, and in the end, both of them would be there for the other, no matter what. He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to the Doctor's lips before closing his eyes. He'd wake up again when the Doctor did.

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A loud shout, a thump, and then another yelp startled Jack out of his light slumber roughly half an hour later. The Doctor wasn't beside him anymore, but rather on the floor and scrambling to get the sheets to cover himself.

"Hello there." Jack snickered.

"Jack! What the hell is going on? Why am I naked?" the Doctor asked, finally getting the bed-sheets over his waist.

Jack frowned, trying to ignore the small pain in his chest. He shook off the feeling, and forced a classic Harkness Grin. "You're naked because you wanted to be."

"And why are you naked?" the Doctor murmured with a suspicious glint in his eyes.

"Because you wanted me to be." Jack smirked and leaned down off of the bed to look the Doctor in the eye, "Do you really not remember?" He ignored the twist of dread in his gut as it welled up inside of him again. If the Doctor didn't recall any of it… he pushed the idea away and searched his friend's face for any sign of recollection.

What he got, though, was fear. "Oh, dear…" the Doctor whispered, his entire face turning red. "This is… uhm…" He managed to stand up and yank the sheets off the bed, keeping them wrapped around his waist. He glanced around wildly for his boxers before pulling them on and letting the linens fall to the floor. The wide-eyed and panicked look never left his face.

"What's wrong?" Jack whispered, sitting up and struggling not to show just how hurt he was about all of this.

"Y-you and I… we… we just… we had…" the Doctor stammered, not able to get his words out.

"Sex? Yes." Jack pursed his lips, "You seemed to rather enjoy it." He tried to smirk, but it didn't come out right.

"Oh, dear…" the Time Lord whispered again, running both hands back through his messy hair. "The muffins! Why did you let me eat those muffins! You knew! Oh, you _knew_ that they were going to do this." The Doctor's fear was quickly turning into a calm fury, which Jack felt slightly more scared of than if the Doctor were to be shouting at him.

"They don't make feelings appear, Doc, they only heighten them. All of that was there. It just needed a little push." Jack managed to get out, still struggling to keep his emotions in check.

"How could I let this happen?" the Doctor practically hissed, now moving around the room, trying to gather up his clothes.

"I don't see what the big deal is. At least I'm not a complete stranger!" Jack grumbled, starting to replace his sadness with anger as well.

"Jack! I haven't done anything like... _That_ before!" The Doctor motioned towards him.

"Well now you have!" Jack threw his hands in the air. Why was the Doctor freaking out?

"No, Jack, you don't understand! Yes, I've had... intercourse before, but with women! And a _very_ long time ago!"

'_Long time ago? Please…'_ Jack thought to himself. "What? How long has it been, really? Surely you and Rose-" Jack stopped as the Doctor's eyes filled with pain. "Oh shit... not even with Rose?"

The Doctor shook his head slowly and pulled on his trousers and shirt. "I hope you're proud, Jack Harkness. You can add the Doctor to the list of your… your sexual conquests!" He started off towards the doors of the TARDIS.

"What have I done?" Jack whispered to himself before pulling his pants on and walking over to his friend. "Doctor, wait!"

"What?" the Doctor snapped before collecting himself again.

"I didn't know!" Jack said with an almost desperate tone, "I thought-"

"You thought I was like you and that I would try to… be with every single girl I brought into the TARDIS! Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy. All of them? You thought I was like you."

"N-no... But I thought... At least... Rose?" Jack tried to reach out for the Doctor's hand. Didn't his friend realize how much this was hurting him?

"You were wrong, Jack." The Doctor's voice was cold, "You used me. You are using me to get over losing Ianto!" The Time Lord stormed into the blue box, slamming the doors behind him.

Jack couldn't hold back the tears anymore. He fell back on the bed and stared at the wall as he cried silently. He messed up. He should have taken into consideration what the Doctor was going to think about the situation, but instead he had been absorbed in his own selfish war of conscience. Then again, the Doctor could have reacted a bit differently when he woke up; maybe a little less extreme.

But who was Jack kidding? He had taken full advantage of his friend. The Doctor was right. Though, Jack didn't agree with the second half of the Time Lord's accusation. He hadn't been trying to get over Ianto. His mind had been completely focused on the Doctor and the task at hand. The Doctor had hurt him. Jack felt petty and weak, just like he had the previous night. His emotions were being stretched too thin…

Jack didn't know how long it had been before he heard the TARDIS doors slowly open again. He didn't look over at the blue box or the man that he knew would be stepping out. He remained motionless. Numb.

"Part of me was worried you'd gone and thrown yourself off of the roof again…" the Doctor murmured, and Jack could hear his voice getting closer.

"Nope" was his only reply.

"I over-reacted." The Doctor sighed, sitting down on the bed next to Jack who still refused to face him.

"No, your reaction was just fine," Jack whispered hoarsely.

They were both quiet and neither of them moved. Finally, Jack broke the silence.

"Doctor, let me explain. I... I thought you had done something with Rose because I know you… loved her. I didn't expect that it had been so long since you've been... intimate with anyone. We both have experienced too much. I've started to think we're the only ones who understand what the other has been through." Jack finally turned over and looked up at the Doctor, "I'm not using you to get over Ianto, okay? I have made myself accept his death and try to move on so that I could finally be happy again. Happy with _you_. I…" Jack almost said it, _loved_, but he knew that wouldn't be wise. "I've wanted to be with you since before I even knew Ianto. What I feel when I am with you were feelings that had been buried under duties to Torchwood and loyalty to Ianto, but not anymore."

The Doctor's eyes showed that he understood and Jack was about to crack a grin when his friend shook his head and pursed his lips. "This doesn't change the fact that I don't… I'm not attracted to men, Jack."

"Ianto wasn't either." Jack smiled wistfully.

"I'm not going to be a replacement! Stop comparing me to him."

Jack sat up and grabbed the Doctor's shoulders, "You aren't going to be, Doctor! I want to be with you because of _you_! Even if you have changed your face and your personality more than once, I know that deep down, there is a person that I want to be with."

That was the truth. Plain and simple, and now the Doctor knew. Jack needed him to understand.

The Time Lord closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Jack... you know I can't become romantically attached to anyone. It always ends bad-"

Jack covered the Doctor's mouth with his hand. "I can't die, Doctor! That is literally the _last_ thing that's going to take me away from you."

He wanted the Doctor to just say it! Admit it in one form or another! Jack needed the Doctor to vocalize his feelings somehow. Jack needed to know he wasn't imagining what he thought the Doctor saw in him.

"That's true..." The Time Lord nodded, pushing Jack's hand away. "But again, Jack, you're my companion, and not just that. You're another man, too! I don't feel like I should-"

"Are you really that shallow?" Jack interrupted.

"No! Jack, no!" The Doctor held his hands up in surrender before hesitantly resting his hands on Jack's shoulders. "You know I have no problem with who you are. I just have a problem with…" He broke eye contact again and sighed deeply. "I think it's a problem with who I am."

"And who are you that keeps you from being with someone you like?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

The Doctor looked slightly taken aback by the question. "I... I guess I don't have an answer for that." He laughed humorlessly.

"Exactly." Jack locked his eyes with the Doctor's once more, knowing that an admission was within his grasp.

"And I..." the Doctor stopped with another small chuckle, "I guess I do like you quite a lot. I'm just not sure... what all that entails." He smiled nervously.

"Let me help you figure out, then, Doctor."

The Doctor pursed his lips and stayed silent for a while before nodding, "Okay Jack. I'll give you a chance."

"Then how about we actually go out on the town tonight? We'll lay off the binge drinking." Jack grinned, using all of his willpower to keep from practically bouncing with excitement. He had done it! He had won the Doctor over!

And the final proof of that came with the Doctor's cocked eyebrow and amused reply. "Jack Harkness, are you asking me out on a date?"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: TWITTER! AH! (a)TheDeathKitsune**

**So I decided to spoil you guys with a lengthy chapter and a quick update, considering this was already written and edited as the second half of chapter 6.**

**As always, superultramega thanks to riftintime, who puts up with my madness even though I know I don't really deserve it.**

**Thanks to CarpeDiemForLife, as well. They are just awesome.**

**And to all of you beautiful reviewers out there: I salute you. *salute***

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Back with Jack, Chapter 7

The Doctor and Jack stepped out onto the busy streets of the planet. Since most of the worthwhile activities didn't occur until after sunset, the two wandered around aimlessly, picking up some lunch from small vendors and watching street performers. Soon it was dusk, and Jack managed to pull the Doctor into a casino.

"We don't have the money to gamble, Jack!" came the Doctor's feeble protest.

"What about all of the money from that sonic-ing of the ATM earlier so that we could eat?..." he trailed off, grinning at the Doctor's glare.

"Fine."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll love it, Doctor. I bet you'll be brilliant!" Jack laughed.

"I'm always brilliant!" The Time Lord smiled back. "Alright, Jack, I'm trusting you. But no getting me drunk again!"

Jack saluted him. "Sir, yes, sir!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes and the two walked in, their ears immediately assaulted with the alarms, cheers, shouts, and clinking of coins and chips that were always associated with gambling.

"So what game do we start with?" the Doctor asked, his eyes wide as he took in all of the different slot machines and card tables.

"Well, are you any good at poker?"

"I don't know. Never played before." The Doctor shrugged and walked off. Jack rolled his eyes and followed him.

"You've never played poker before?"

"I'm not really one for sitting down and playing cards. But I'm on holiday, so I might as well try it out!" The Doctor beamed and approached a table.

They very soon figured out the Doctor was a master at not only Poker, but Black Jack, Roulette, slots and several other alien gambling games that Jack didn't recognize, but both caught on to quickly.

Within less than two hours, both of them had raked in a very large sum of chips; probably the most money Jack had ever owned at one time.

"Oh, my gods… this is ridiculous, Doc!" Jack exclaimed, peering down into the box that they had needed to put their winnings in. "We are going to eat good tonight! We can actually afford that room we're staying in, now!"

"You didn't pay up front?" The Doctor gasped.

"For someone who robbed an ATM earlier today, you aren't one to take the moral high ground. And it must have just left the receptionist's mind. She _was_ a bit distracted." Jack winked.

"And you've probably gotten her fired!" The Doctor was trying to remain stern and disapproving, but he was chuckling under his breath.

"I sure hope not!" Jack laughed with him. "Let's cash these chips in and head out to a show or dinner, whichever you want first."

"I say show, then food." The Doctor nodded.

"Sounds like a plan!" Jack made his way over to a cash-in desk and pushed the box to the woman.

"Looks like you got lucky tonight, sir," she commented, starting to count the chips.

"I have a smart friend," Jack said distractedly, not putting any effort into flirting with her like he would have normally. Instead, he was staring at the Doctor who was grinning from ear to ear as he continued to look around the casino.

Both of them were genuinely enjoying themselves and they were feeding off the other's excitement and enthusiasm. Together, they were undefeatable, in both a literal and a symbolic sense. Jack had gotten lucky, hadn't he?

"-thousand. Sir? Did you hear me?"

Jack turned around and stared at the woman blankly before shaking his head and smiling apologetically. "Sorry, no. Wait, _how_ many thousand?"

"Forty-five thousand, sir." She smiled back at him, handing him a stack of paper notes in the local currency.

Jack whistled and a thanked her as he walked over to the Doctor. "Forty-five thousand!"

The Doctor's jaw dropped slightly. "That's… and we've won that? Legally?"

Jack laughed, his head tilting back slightly. "Yes, Doctor. Legally. Now, we need to find a schedule of the shows around here."

The two of them walked over to the exit, Jack picking up a small holographic pamphlet. "Let's see…" he hummed, looking at times and dates of different events. "Boring, boring boring. Oh!" Jack smirked as he looked back up at the Doctor, who had a curious but wary expression.

"I know you're going to force me to go to whatever it is anyway, so just tell me." The Doctor rolled his eyes.

Jack pouted and nudged the Doctor out of the casino and through the streets again. "You know, just to spite you, I'm not telling you anything!"

"You're such a child!" The Doctor snickered.

"Hypocrite!" Jack shoved him playfully.

The Time Lord feigned hurt. "How dare you accuse me of such things! I am very mature." He let out an exaggerated huff and pulled at the lapels of his jacket, starting to walk ahead of Jack.

Jack snorted and grabbed the Doctor's collar, yanking him back to him. "Oh, please! I doubt even psychic paper could trick someone into believing that."

"You're right. It didn't work." The Doctor deadpanned, earning another round of laughter from his companion.

The two arrived at the large stadium-like building that Jack said the show was at. They bought prime seats, which they had the money for, of course, and made their way to them.

"So what kind of show is this? Not knowing is killing me!" The Doctor sighed.

"It's… interesting." Jack tried to hide his smirk.

"It it some sort of Harkness-fetish show?" The Time Lord narrowed his eyes, reaching for the pamphlet that was sticking out of Jack's coat pocket. He grabbed it and looked down, finding the stadium and time that they were at. Jack burst out in laughter as the Doctor's face showed just how disappointed he was.

"I'm right. I hate that sometimes…" The Doctor shook his head, stealing a look at his friend.

Jack patted the Doctor's shoulder. "Trust me, you'll like it. You've trusted my better judgment all night!"

"I wouldn't say it's better judgment, but yes, I guess I'll just have to trust you again. Besides, we've already paid." The Doctor pursed his lips, but a smile was threatening to make itself present.

"If it makes you feel any better, it's more family friendly than a strip club," Jack offered.

The Doctor's eyebrows rose and he shot Jack an incredulous glance. "By how much?"

"Not… much…" Jack laughed slightly, his eyes bright with mischief. "But it's something."

The Doctor sighed and let out a nervous chuckle.

The lights dimmed and music started as several figures walked onto the stage and started their routine. The Doctor sunk into his seat and even in the dark, Jack could tell he was blushing furiously.

It was an exotic show of sorts, with male and female, human, human-like and completely alien performers. The entire time, Jack was grinning and taking in the experience with a ravenous expression, while for the first half, the Doctor remained tense and slightly awkward. Jack, having had enough of the Doctor's reservations, eventually got up and bought three bottles of beer; two for the Doctor and one for himself.

Just as Jack had suspected, the Doctor loosened up half-way through the second drink and actually started to enjoy himself, joining Jack in the cheers and whoops after each number.

Thankfully the Doctor wasn't a complete light-weight, and once the show finished, the Time Lord was still sober, if not slightly buzzed by the alcohol in his system. Jack looped his arm around his friend's waist and pulled him close as they walked down the main street once again. The Doctor had tensed up at first, but soon relaxed into Jack's hold and hooked his arm around Jack's shoulders.

"So what do you feel like for dinner, Doctor?" Jack asked softly, reading the signs for the different restaurants.

"I really don't care. Whatever you want, as long as there are no more… exotic dancers."

Jack laughed and nodded. "Sounds reasonable."

He ended up choosing a nice, but not too formal place that had a general and non-specific menu. As they were led their table, the Doctor let out a soft chuckle.

"You really are taking me out on a date, aren't you, Captain?"  
Jack shrugged. "It's whatever you want it to be, Doc."

"What do _you_ want it to be?" The Doctor leaned forward, his eyes searching Jack's.

On instinct, Jack wanted to close up and change the subject. He didn't want the night to venture into anything deep or emotional. But then again, he had agreed to help the Doctor sort out his feelings. They both needed to be straightforward with one another.

"Yeah… I uh… I want it to be a date. But it doesn't have to be," he murmured, breaking eye contact and looking over his menu. He didn't know why he was acting so shyly. Maybe because he was trying to be cautious about the Doctor, but then again, that wasn't really like him either.

"Well I think, for right now, it's just two friends out for dinner," the Doctor said quietly, "But… there's… potential," he added carefully.

They didn't dwell on the subject, though, and on some sort of unspoken agreement, none of their conversation went any deeper into their feelings. However, they did talk about Amy and Ianto, but in more of a conversational manner. Jack noticed when the Doctor was talking about Amelia that he seemed to keep dodging around something. Jack brushed off his suspicions as their food was brought out to them.

"I guess I was just running away from… uhm, complicated things. That's why I've gone on this vacation," the Doctor said.

"I guess we both got lonely..." Jack sighed softly.

"Oh please, Jack. You had... erm… companions of your own every night it, sounds like." The Doctor motioned to him with a fork.

Jack smirked, but then his smile turned wistful. "You of all people should know that short things like that don't cure loneliness. We could be here for each other, Doctor. We would never have to leave each other!" Jack reached across the table and grabbed the Doctor's hand. "The Doctor and Captain Jack and the never ending adventures through time and space." He winked.

The Doctor laughed, which surprised Jack. "We'd sound like a cheesy science fiction show!"

"But you're not against the idea?" Jack prodded, needing an answer.

"I erm... I..." The Doctor pursed his lips, his eyes showing that he was thinking very deeply about the answer. "I guess... that doesn't sound like such a bad idea." He smiled.

Jack beamed. "Really?"

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded and shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?"

Jack simply grinned at him and continued eating his food.

They finished dinner talking animatedly about past adventures, both eliciting surprise, eye-rolls and laughs from each other. When they were done, Jack paid with their gambling winnings. The Doctor stood up along with Jack, and the two made their way back to the hotel.

As they stepped into the lift, Jack glanced at the Doctor who had a content smile on his face. "I loved today, Jack. It was amazing."

"Even this morning?" Jack chanced, and he could feel the air in the enclosed space crackle with tension.

"What part of this morning are you referring to?" the Doctor whispered.

Jack chuckled faintly. "Not the yelling part..." He scooted closer to the Doctor, who surprisingly didn't cringe away.

"Honestly?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, honestly." Jack looked into the Doctor's eyes.

"It was… fun and new. Both of which I love." The Doctor smiled slyly, which was a new expression for Jack, but he didn't dwell on it. He knew to act on an opportunity when one presented itself.

"So you enjoyed yourself, then?" Jack murmured softly, pressing the Doctor into the corner of the elevator.

The Doctor's small amount of bravado disappeared, and he was flustered again, not sure what to do. "J-Jack..." he warned.

"Just tell me when to stop, Doc." Jack smirked and ran soft kisses up the Doctor's neck. The Doctor gripped the low railing along the walls of the lift tightly, willing himself to stay level headed.

"Come on, you aren't seriously still shy about this, are you?"

The Doctor let out a snort of indignation. "I am not... _shy_ about anything!"

Then Jack whispered two very dangerous words in the Time Lord's ear: "Prove it."

Jack could feel the Doctor push against him and he let the other man do what he wanted. Jack wasn't even remotely shocked when suddenly he felt his back in the corner. "There we go," he said with a chuckle.

"Listen to me, Jack Harkness. You should know by now to never underestimate what I can do."

"Oh, I don't underestimate you, Doctor..." Jack trailed a finger over the Doctor's bow tie before pulling it loose. "I just like to play."  
The Doctor shook his head and leaned into Jack slightly. "You confuse me sometimes, Captain."

"I need to keep up my enigmatic reputation." Jack shrugged, trying to go for a kiss, but the Doctor pulled back just enough.

"Did you slip something in my food?" the Doctor asked.

Jack laughed, tilting his head back slightly. "What? Are you feeling confusing things in weird places?" Jack slid his hand down between the Doctor's legs, earning him a shudder and a faint groan. "J-Jack... we're in a lift!"

Jack wrapped his arm around the Doctor's waist, tapped a few buttons on his wrist strap, and suddenly they were in their room in the suite. "No, we're not."

The Doctor shook his head and laughed. "You are something else."

"Wouldn't be the first time I've heard that," Jack said quickly, tugging the Doctor over to their bed. The Doctor quickly slipped out of his tweed jacket and let it fall to the floor. Jack pushed the Time Lord down onto the bed and slipped out of his own coat, tossing it over a chair before climbing on top of the Doctor, whose expression was a mixture of anxiety and arousal. "I'm going to tell you this now, Doc, and this time only. If you want me to stop, I will."

The Doctor nodded, and Jack could hear the rapid four-beat rhythm of the Doctor's hearts.

Jack leaned down and crushed his lips against the Doctor's, his hand reaching up and tangling in the other man's long hair. Jack could feel the Doctor's hands flit about, not sure where to go. Jack grabbed one of them and placed it on his hips before slowly pushing his body down on the Doctor's.

All of it was so different than earlier that day. Then, the Doctor had been confident in what he was doing, but now he was acting as nervous as a virgin.

Jack could adapt.

He pulled away from the kiss and smirked down at the Doctor as he started to unbutton the other man's shirt. Jack slowly started to move his hips against the Doctor's, unable to hold back his grin at the sounds the Doctor made in response. Jack pushed the suspenders off of his partner's shoulders before helping the Doctor out of his shirt. Jack slid his hand down the Doctor's bare chest before quickly undoing the Time Lord's trousers and slipping his hand under the waistband of his briefs.

Just as the Doctor let out a low groan of approval, a terrible scream came from somewhere down-stairs.

"Neither of us can have a few relaxing days without _someone_ being in trouble, can we?" Jack grumbled and he shoved himself off the bed. He pulled on his braces and coat before looking over at the Doctor, who seemed to be stunned into silence. '_Just as I had him right where I wanted him!'_ Jack thought to himself.

"Doctor, come on! Tuck yourself in, get your shirt on and let's go see what the fuss is about. The sooner we fix this, the less crying and complaining we have to hear for the rest of our trip. Then we can get back to what we were doing." Jack grinned widely.

The Doctor shook himself slightly and refastened his trousers before pulling back on the articles of clothing he had just taken off.

"Is it bad that I hope it's something terrible and dangerous?" The Time Lord mumbled.

Jack let out a loud laugh as the two of them ran for the stairs, knowing the lift would take too long. "Well at least if it is something catastrophic, it's a perfectly acceptable reason for stopping." He winked.

The Doctor pursed his lips as they managed to get down all of the stairs.

"Running... An awful lot of running." Jack panted slightly.

"Part of the job!" The Doctor grinned.

"Is sleeping with you part of the job too?"

"Jack!" the Doctor scolded, but Jack only snickered and started towards the large crowd centered in the middle of the lobby.

"I-I came into my... My room, and my lover... W-was... Sleeping... W-with... Another.. W-woman..." a shaky, sobbing voice managed to get out.  
Jack sighed and looked over at the Doctor. "Looks like it's nothing more than a simple case of adultery. What more do you expect on a pleasure plan-"

"Listen!" The Doctor clapped a hand over Jack's mouth, more or less forcing the other man to do as he said.

"And then... Th-this purple gas... Came into... Into the room and... And then... Poof!" the woman's arms made an exaggerated movement, "They were both dust! And the purple cloud was gone! I don't even care that he was cheating, I want my lover back!"

Jack had encountered something strangely familiar to this back in Cardiff, though that alien had needed a host body to survive in. If this one didn't, then there was no telling what havoc it could cause the entire city. They _were_ on a pleasure planet…

The Doctor and Jack looked at each other with wide eyes, and Jack managed to push the other man's hand away before shoving himself through the crowd.

"What exactly did this smoke cloud look like?" he insisted, everyone around him quieting down before going back to their rambling.

"Who are you?" several people asked.

The Doctor barged through, producing psychic paper. "Sergeant John Smith and Captain..."

"John Hart of the Intergalactic Police. We specialize in the weird stuff, and this sounds like one of our cases."

Another scream sounded from somewhere else in the hotel, and panic swept over everyone once again.

"Doctor, this is going to get really bad really fast if we don't-" Jack paused as he saw the Doctor running back up the stairs. "Damn it," he growled before dashing after him.

"Oh good, you've caught up! Brief me, Captain. What is this thing?" The Doctor said, whipping out his sonic screwdriver.

Jack quickly explained that the creature fed off sexual energy, and that the hotel needed to send out an all-call for all guests to leave their rooms as soon as possible.

By then, they were already reached the first floor to start their search for the source of the second scream. They both sighed and sprinted back down.

"This is why you shouldn't run off! Would have saved us some time." Jack grumbled.

After another round of explanations, the receptionist nodded and sent out an announcement throughout the entire hotel calling the guests down to the lobby. After they were given the clear, Jack and the Doctor made another journey up the staircase. They split up, each taking one side of the hallways, the Doctor using his sonic and Jack using his Vortex Manipulator to scan for alien presence with no results.

An idea was formulating in Jack's head. "I think I know what we have to do. It's risky," he murmured.

"I love risky!" The Doctor grinned.

"Up to the TARDIS!" Jack shook his head, hooked his arm through the Doctor and teleported them up to their suite.

"Why didn't we use that to go downstairs?" The Time Lord laughed.

"Teleportation is illegal on this planet." Jack said nonchalantly as he stepped into the TARDIS. After several minutes, he emerged with a hand-held vacuum cleaner and humming an upbeat song under his breath.

"We're taking down a murderous alien with a handi-vac?" the Doctor asked skeptically.

"I told you, it's risky!" Jack laughed before pinning his partner against the wall and kissing him deeply. Jack slowly ran his free hand down the Doctor's chest and unzipped his trousers.

"Jack!" The Doctor tried to push him away. "Now is _really_ not the time!"

"This is the plan, Doc! You gotta go with it." Jack smirked and started pumping his hand, effectively silencing the Doctor's protests.

Jack's wrist-strap started to beep wildly, signaling the presence of an alien life-form.

"Ohh…" the Doctor managed to get out as he realized what Jack was up to.

"Like the Ghostbusters!" Jack winked and turned around abruptly, turning on the vacuum and sucking the violet gas into the small container.

"Th-that's… not gonna hold it for long…" The Doctor said with labored breath as he refastened his trousers. "You need to stop doing this to me, Jack."  
"I'm sorry, Doc." Jack pouted and stole a quick kiss, "I'll make it up to you later."

The two of them stare at the small vacuum cleaner before looking up at each other.

"What do we do with it now?" Jack asked.

"You didn't plan this far ahead?"

"Nope!" Jack laughed.

"To the TARDIS!" The Time Lord yanked the other man towards the blue doors. Once inside, the Doctor started to run around the console. "Let's just dump it into space?"

Jack shrugged, "Sounds good!"

"It's a bit sloppy…"

"But only two people have died. We don't want more," Jack pointed out, "And we don't have the tech to detain it anyway..."

The Doctor nodded and they dematerialized. When Jack opened the doors again, he was looking out at the vast expanse of outer space. With a long sigh, he tossed out the small machine holding the alien gas. "That was fun," he murmured as he closed the doors and turned back to the Doctor.

They rematerialized back in their suite and made their way downstairs to inform the receptionist that everything was safe.

"Long day..." Jack laughed as he watched the patrons retreat back to the lifts.

"I say we leave tonight," the Doctor said abruptly.

"Why?"

"We've already spent a lot of time here, and I can think of a lot of other places far more entertaining than this. Go pay for our suite and I'll be upstairs."

The Doctor didn't leave Jack with any room for argument. However, Jack couldn't help but agree with him. He walked up and paid for the two nights in the room. He thanked the receptionist then went upstairs and found the Doctor in the TARDIS.

"So do you have a bedroom, Doc?" Jack asked as the Doctor dashed around the console, murmuring to himself.

"Hm? My room?" The Doctor paused, "Yeah, I have a room." He looked wary for a brief moment before continuing his preparations for take-off.

"Well, if you don't want me to see it, it's fine..." Jack smirked and wrapped his arms around the Doctor's waist. "You can spend the night in my room," he whispered.

The Doctor shuddered and continued messing with buttons and switches on the TARDIS. "I have no idea how you can do this to me."

"Do what?" Jack feigned innocence as his hand snaked down towards the Doctor's crotch.

"Oh, you know perfectly well what 'what' is, Jack," the Doctor said darkly, shifting slightly under the other man's touch.

Jack chuckled and slowly unzipped the Doctor's trousers. "I believe our Ghostbusting interrupted something earlier..."

"Yeah? What?" Jack could tell the Doctor was smirking.

"Oh, you know perfectly well what 'what' is, Doctor."

The Doctor let out a hum, flipped a switch, and then the TARDIS was in flight.

Jack laughed and pulled the Doctor over to the corridors and into his room. The two spent the rest of the night- was there really any such thing in a time machine? Regardless, they spent the rest of what would have been the evening making love.

Jack smiled to himself at the term and what it inferred. He hadn't 'made love' with anyone since Ianto. What he and the Doctor had shared wasn't brought on by lust or anything related to it. In fact, Jack hadn't even really wanted it for the normal reasons anyone would want sex. He had just wanted to be close to the Time Lord. As Jack lay there staring into the Doctor's dark green eyes and basking in the wonderful sensation that overcame him at the end of something so satisfying, he couldn't help but smile. Apparently, neither could the Doctor. Jack would have given anything to see what his partner was thinking, but then again, that could have spoiled it for both of them.

At that moment, it seemed nothing could go wrong. '_It could be just me and the Doctor, and our never-ending adventures...'_

"Doctor..." Jack spoke up, not sure how long they had been silent after they had finished. Jack didn't care. He took another breath, prepared to say something that had been rattling around in his mind.

But of course, anything good, no matter how small or significant, was bound to be ruined by something equally as terrible. So, the TARDIS deciding just at that precise second to sound off alarms and warning bells shouldn't have surprised them.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: (a)TheDeathKitsune**

**Omg, yey! A new chapter!**

**So... I've written the last two chapters of this story, and because I'm stupid or something, I decided to do that BEFORE this one! :D But regardless, this is good news! Now you have this chapter, and the next few will be up in regular intervals! :D**

**This story is wrapping up, and I am very proud of myself for actually finishing something!**

**Of course, the utmost amounts of gratitude to riftintime, who has been amazing to me despite all of the other stories they are helping other authors with.**

**Another bucket o' gratitude to CarpeDiemforlife, who has become a good friend and an excellent person at lighting a fire under my ass.**

**You beautiful people who review are amazing as well. :3**

**ONTO THE CHAPTER!**

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Back With Jack, Chapter 8

"I don't understand!" the Doctor shouted, running circles around the console, clad only in his trousers, which Jack didn't mind that much. Jack himself was similarly dressed, both of them having been quite startled by the alarms. However, Jack had managed to grab his shirts before they had run out of the bedroom, and he started putting them back on.

"She says there is something trying to get in!" The Doctor continued, "But we're in the Time Vortex! Nothing can survive going through it unprotected!"

"I did..." Jack shrugged, clinging onto the railing as the TARDIS gave another violent jerk. He looked around for where he had thrown his coat. He spotted it and risked letting go of the rail to grab it and pull it on.

"Yeah, but you're special, Jack. I'm running a scan to see if I can pinpoint where and what it is that's trying to break in." The Doctor held a screen in both of his hands, his eyes scanning over its contents. "Oh no... some of the gas cloud must have remained behind! It clung onto us when it sensed us... uhm…" He paused and shook his head. "But that's it! It's trying to get in to feed off our..."

"Climax?" Jack raised an eyebrow, holding back a snicker at his friend's lack of words.

"Yes," the Doctor muttered and started dashing around the console again. "We have to do an emergency landing to get it off! Hang on to something!"

Jack gripped the railing again as the room lurched around them and they landed with a bone-shattering thud. They both ran outside and looked all around the TARDIS.

"Found it!" Jack called looking down at the purple gas cloud slowly starting to dissolve and sink into the earth. "It's dead. The Vortex killed it." Jack looked around him. "Where are we, by the way? _When_ are we?"

The Doctor glanced around at his surroundings, then down at his watch. "Earth; specifically what will be Mongolia. Sometime around 70 million BCE..." he said slowly. "Towards the end of the Cretaceous period."

"Dinosaurs?" Jack beamed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes, Jack. Dinosaurs." The Time Lord turned to the TARDIS and gasped as smoke started billowing out of the door. "No!" he cried, running inside.

Jack frowned and tried fanning away the fumes as they surrounded him. "Doc?" he called, taking in a lungful of the smoke and coughing sharply.

"She's _fried_!" the Doctor shouted and joined Jack in coughing.

Jack pulled the collar of his coat up around his nose and dashed inside the blue box, knowing that he needed to get the Doctor out.

The smoke only got thicker the closer Jack got to the console, but finally he found the Doctor. He wrapped an arm around the Time Lord's waist and tugged back, but the Doctor wouldn't budge. "We need to get out, Doctor! We can come back-" Jack was cut off by another round of coughs. "We can come back when it's not so bad!"

Finally, the Doctor let go of the console and the two of them made it back out, gasping for fresh air. When they finally caught their breath, they looked at each other and laughed.

"Doctor, I think there is a certain point that you need to stop at when it comes to taking care of her."

The Doctor scoffed. "She has always been there for me! If something hurts her, I have to make sure she's alright, and look at her!" He motioned towards the still-smoking blue box. "She must have been trying _really_ hard to get that alien gas off."

Jack shook his head and smiled at the Doctor affectionately. "I'm sure she's fine. And if not, I'm sure the two of us can combine forces and fix her."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "I don't think we'd be very productive."

Jack laughed. "Why not?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at his companion. "We probably wouldn't be able to get half-way through the job before your hands somehow found their way into my trousers again."

"You don't seem to object when that happens," Jack murmured with an amused smirk.

The Doctor sighed. "Your unquenchable sexual appetite is what has gotten us here!"

Jack frowned, realizing that his friend wasn't playing around. The Time Lord was genuinely annoyed with him. "Jeez, Doc. It's not like I forced it on you."

"Maybe if you could keep it in your pants for more than a few hours, we'd actually get somewhere." The Time Lord grumbled, walking up to the TARDIS once the smoke outside had cleared a bit. He pouted slightly and put his ear to a wall.

Jack crossed his arms. "I'm starting to think you care more about that damn box than you do about me."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Come on, Jack. Get over yourself and help me figure out what's wrong."

"Get over myself?" Jack was taken aback. He grabbed the Doctor's arm and yanked him away from the TARDIS. "Doctor, what the hell is up with you?"

"You're the reason my TARDIS is fried! That's what's up with me." The Doctor tried to pull free of the other man's grip.

Jack glared at him. "Oh, so it's my fault that you had sex with me. Okay, I get it now," he shot back sarcastically.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "Jack, I'm just trying to say that maybe if you didn't keep trying to seduce me, our adventures would be a little less… smoky." His eyes scanned up and down over the doors of the TARDIS. Smoke had stopped pouring out of the entrance, and Jack could tell the Doctor was itching to get back inside to diagnose his ship.

"You make it sound as if you weren't a willing participant in anything we did!" Jack exclaimed.

The Doctor turned back to him and sighed. "That's not what I'm saying. I fully admit to consenting to all of our… extra activities, but that doesn't change the fact that I… that I…"

"That you what, Doc?" Jack narrowed his eyes.

"I don't know, Jack! This is new to me! I've never had anything like this with any of my companions before!" The Doctor threw his hands in the air. "At least with Rose… it was different with her. She was a girl!"

"So because I'm not a woman, our situation is weird?" Jack felt slightly offended by what the Doctor was inferring. _I thought we had gotten past this…_ he thought._ But then again, we haven't really talked about it, have we? The closest we've gotten to a conversation about our relationship was that bit in the elevator. All that accomplished was him admitting that he enjoyed himself. He never said whether or not he wanted to keep up whatever it is we have. Surely what we just shared in the TARDIS meant something to him…_

"Well it certainly isn't something that I have experience in, Jack." The Doctor's voice snapped Jack out of his thoughts.

Something occurred to Jack, something he didn't really want to know the answer to. "Do you regret sleeping with me?" he growled.

Jack felt his stomach drop as the Doctor hesitated to find an answer. Jack shook his head and turned away, a humorless laugh escaping him. "Of course. You don't know. You're not sure," Jack mocked. "Well you know what, Doctor? When two people, regardless of gender, share something like what we had just half an hour ago, that tends to mean a lot. People don't…" He struggled to say the words. "It's not… making love… if it's just one-sided. You felt something and it scares you, and the fact that you don't even have the guts to admit that really pisses me off."

The Doctor just stared at Jack, his eyes showing just how sad, and just how old, he really was.

Jack shook his head again and looked up at the sky. "Right. Well, I'll leave you to your machine. I don't want to get in the way!" he sneered and started to walk away.

"Jack, stop…" the Doctor called after him, but Jack didn't turn around. In fact, he broke into a jog that soon turned into a run for the trees that surrounded the small clearing they'd landed in. He needed to get away and think. He needed a high place…

He stopped and looked up around at the trees, finding one to climb. He got up as far as the tree limbs would let him and he sat down, his legs dangling over the jungle floor. He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the prehistoric animals around him. He heard the screech of a pterosaur and his eyes immediately shot open as he was reminded of Myfanwy. His throat tightened and he could feel the tears stinging in the back of his eyes. His emotions were stretched thin as he thought of Ianto and the Doctor. He leaned back against the trunk of the tree and let out a quiet sob.

The Doctor wouldn't admit any feelings for Jack beyond those of responsibility, guilt, obligation, and maybe slight fondness. Jack began to question just what had happened in his bedroom in the TARDIS. It had _felt_ like they had made love. He was so sure that they had. Yet, the Doctor didn't seem to invest any emotions into their physical relationship. Was Jack just being fanciful in thinking that the Time Lord could reciprocate what Jack felt towards him?

Another sob escaped him. He thought he had finally found someone who could fill up the emptiness left inside of him after had Ianto died. He should have known better than to fall in love again, and so soon after Ianto, too.

He let out a shaky breath and looked down at his Vortex Manipulator. He could teleport away if he wanted to, but he knew he wouldn't. He would never forgive himself if he just left the Doctor. He knew he'd regret it for the rest of his existence.

Jack glanced at the ground, contemplating the idea of jumping and escaping the pain of life, if only for a few minutes. The Doctor would probably find him, though, then that would lead to another painful and emotional discussion. But they needed that. The two of them needed to sit down and talk about whatever the hell was going on, but both of them were too scared, or at least Jack was. But he knew that it needed to happen. He needed to come clean to the Doctor and sort out what they had with each other so that he wouldn't get hurt again.

He took a deep breath and tapped a button on his wrist-strap, teleporting him down to the ground. He made up his mind to approach the Doctor about their relationship and he wasn't going to let his fears stop him. His back straightened up with a renewed sense of determination, and he strode in the general direction of the clearing where they had landed. He knew he could just teleport there, but he still needed time to think.

He hummed to himself as he walked, trying to decide just what to say to his friend.

He heard the distinct call of a velociraptor in the distance and his heartbeat immediately picked up. He glanced around him and started to run, taking out his Webley and making sure it was loaded. The foliage beside him started to shift in time with his strides as if something was keeping pace with him. He bit his lip and flipped open his wrist-strap again, trying to home in on the TARDIS so he could quickly teleport to it.

Just as he was about to enter the last sequence of coordinates, whatever was in the bushes burst out and tackled him to the ground. He shouted and fired his gun, cursing as none of the shots found their target. However, confusion wiped away all of his baser instincts of survival as he heard a voice.

The dinosaur drew back and stared at him with beady black eyes. It was a fairly large velociraptor, but something was off about it; it had what looked like a harness and bit that one would put on a horse. He scrambled up to his feet and started to back away, only to bump into another raptor clad in the same strange riding gear. Jack's jaw dropped as he saw humanoid aliens riding on the back of the dinosaurs.

"Who are you and what are you doing out in the wilderness?" one of the aliens asked.

Jack was completely confounded by the sight in front of him. The aliens had shimmery red skin, yellow eyes, elongated faces, and were wearing some sort of armor. Jack saw guns slung across their backs and gripped his Webley even tighter in his hands.

"Can you not speak?" the other alien spoke up.

Jack turned to it and nodded. "I-I can. You guys just surprised me. Why did you attack me?"

"We needed to interrogate you and you fled," the first alien replied.

Jack laughed despite his situation. "Maybe if I didn't think I was being hunted by velociraptors, I would have been a bit more willing to your interrogation."

"The questionable creature shows disrespect towards the Anthi," one of the aliens said to the other. "Shall we take it in?"

The other alien nodded and grabbed Jack by the collar, hoisting him up onto the back of his steed.

"Hey! I'm not going to come with you-" Jack started, but before he could finish, the alien slammed its fist against the back of Jack's head, knocking him out cold.

When Jack regained consciousness, he was in what seemed to be a small prison cell. The walls and ceiling were made of metal and the only illumination was weak sunlight coming in from a barred square in the ceiling. He was missing his coat, his Webley and his wrist-strap.

"That's what you get, Jack," he muttered to himself. "If you're a smart ass to velociraptor-riding aliens, you either get killed or imprisoned."

He sighed and leaned against a wall, trying to figure out a way to escape. He glanced at the ceiling again and narrowed his eyes, trying to see outside. He bent his knees and jumped up, grabbing the bars and lifting himself up so that he could get a closer look. He was still in the jungle, but he wasn't sure where in relation to the Doctor. He couldn't see anything but more trees, and the only sounds were those of the dinosaurs and insects inhabiting the jungle.

He dropped back down to the ground with a sigh. Then he realized that the floor beneath him was made of loose dirt. He smirked and started to dig at the edge of one of the metal walls. His heart started to drop as he realized the walls ran even further underground. After he managed to dig a two-foot deep hole, he figured that he couldn't get out that way.

He sighed and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. He unbuttoned his over shirt and pulled it off, letting out a sigh and trying to see if there was anything else he could use to his advantage. He spotted a pair of hinges on the corner of the ceiling and one of the walls. He hummed and stood up again trying to reach up and push the opposite side of the ceiling, but he wasn't tall enough. He looked over at the pile of earth he had made in his attempt at digging and grinned. He pushed the mound over to the spot he was trying to escape from and packed it down tightly. He stepped on it and reached up, his palms resting flat against the ceiling of his cage. He laughed softly and gave the ceiling a good push, lifting it up a few inches before some sort of lock stopped him.

Jack cursed and punched the wall, immediately regretting it. He held his hand close to his chest as it throbbed in pain. He grumbled to himself as he circled the room and kicked at the walls

_I could really use a sonic screwdriver right about now…_ he thought. He remembered when he first met the Doctor and he had laughed at the Time Lord for choosing something so odd to make sonic. Now he saw how wise of a decision that was. He stopped his pacing as he realized it wasn't really a sonic screwdriver he wanted. He just wanted the Doctor. He regretted acting so childishly about his friend's statements earlier. Jack should have known that the Doctor was just distressed about the TARDIS…

_Oh, Doctor… where are you?_ Jack thought hopelessly.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: (a)TheDeathKitsune**

**Yey! New chapter! :D**

**Thank you, as usual, to riftintime, who has been a brilliant, non-official beta to me. This story would be far more repetitive and have far more spelling and grammar mistakes if riftintime didn't look over these chapters. So yeah. Thanks. :P**

**Again, thank you to CarpeDiemforlife, who insisted that dinosaurs were a good idea, and who I've been torturing because I wouldn't let them read this sooner! XD**

**And I could never forget you gorgeous reviewers out there! You guys are part of a big machine that has kept this story going, so yeah! :D**

**Enough of this! Onto the velociraptor-riding aliens!**

* * *

Back with Jack, Chapter 9

Jack could tell the sun was setting as the small square of light shifted along the walls of his cell. By the time he was surrounded by darkness, he gave up hope of being served any food. His stomach growled loudly, and he realized he hadn't eaten anything since the dinner he'd had with the Doctor. In Jack's relative time line, that had actually only been twelve hours earlier, but it felt like days to him.

He folded up his over shirt and put it under his head as a makeshift pillow. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but slumber eluded him.

He thought he'd been captured for interrogation. Why wasn't he being interrogated? At least his captors would have to take him out of his cage and then he would have a chance of escape. He was completely confused as to what the aliens - the Anthi they called themselves - were doing on Earth, especially in prehistoric times. Hitching up and riding velociraptors for sport didn't quite seem like a reasonable explanation.

Jack sighed softly and stared helplessly out of his small ceiling window. The Doctor had to be coming for him. Surely his friend would suspect something when he hadn't returned.

Jack rolled over on his side and started to question just how healthy his love and reliance of the Doctor was, but then he heard a soft knock from above him. He turned around and looked up, a grin spreading across his face as he saw the Doctor through the bars.

"Doc?" Jack laughed softly.

"Hey, Jack! I'm so glad I found you… There are Anthi here!" He seemed quite amused with himself and was obviously struggling to keep his voice at a whisper. "And they're riding _velociraptors_!"

"Yes. Now can you get me out?" Jack asked, standing up.

"Right! Escaping." The Doctor winked and pulled out his sonic. Jack let out sigh of relief as he heard the familiar sound of the screwdriver, then the lock busting open. The Doctor's face disappeared from the window for a brief second before the entire ceiling was lifted off the cell. Jack jumped up, grabbed the edge of one of the walls and hoisted himself over. He was surprised to see that the top of his cage was level with the ground.

"So that's why digging wasn't working…" he murmured to himself.

"Sorry it took so long. Big jungle." The Doctor took Jack in his arms, hugging him tightly. Jack hugged him back, burying his face in the Time Lord's shoulder.

"I almost started to think you had given up on me," Jack whispered, feeling slightly ashamed.

"Jack Harkness, how dare you doubt me!" The Doctor laughed, immediately brightening Jack's mood.

"How did you find me?" Jack asked, looping an arm through the Doctor's.

The Doctor opened his mouth to explain as they turned to walk away, but both of them froze when guns were pointed straight at their heads. At least ten Anthi surrounded them.

"Oh, hello there," the Doctor said in a slightly nervous tone. "Yes… guns. Alright. Hi, I'm the-"

"You are aiding the escape of a creature awaiting interrogation," one of the Anthi stated, presumably their leader. "You shall be imprisoned as well."

"Hold on now, don't you know who I am?" the Doctor asked, stepping forward with a menacing posture which actually made the Anthi stagger back slightly before straightening back up and aiming its gun again. "I'm the Doctor. You don't simply imprison me or my friends._ Especially_ not my friends."

Several of the other aliens started to whisper, and the Doctor's name was heard between their words. The head Anthi stared at the Doctor, and while there no emotion in his eyes, Jack could tell it was scared.

"So you are the legendary Doctor? Destroyer of races?"

The Doctor frowned. "I'd like to say I'm more of a rescuer, and if you don't get off this planet right now, there is a very good chance that you might destroy one of the greatest races out there."

"We have come to this planet to restart our civilization. No sentient creatures exist, or… at least we thought…" the Anthi replied, staring at Jack before returning his gaze to the Doctor. "We are not breaking any code you uphold, Doctor."

Jack was amazed that the Anthi seemed to respect the Doctor. He knew his friend was powerful, but he'd never heard of a race which claimed to follow any code of the Doctor's. Usually they fight. It seemed that the Anthi were genuinely confused as to why they were in trouble.

"Oh, but they _will_." The Doctor smirked. "It'll take a while, but they'll emerge from the waters and they will flourish. The fact that your people have settled here runs the risk of stopping their existence, and well… I can't let that happen."

The Anthi nodded. "Yet, we have nowhere to go, Doctor."

"I'm sure I can find you somewhere! I'm a reasonable man." The Doctor turned to Jack and grinned. "See? They're friendly!" A frown crossed over his features briefly as he faced the Anthi again. "Why exactly did you kidnap my friend, here?"

"He was a sentient creature. We needed to see if he was a visitor or a native," The Anthi said in their straightforward manner.

"You could have asked me that _after_ your velociraptor tackled me and _before_ you trapped me underground for half a day with no food or water," Jack spoke up.

"It also annoyed us with its disrespectful tone of voice." The head Anthi narrowed its eyes at Jack. The Doctor bit back a snicker.

"Okay, but that's no reason to hold someone hostage. Now, how about we pack up here and we can find you lot a nice new planet to live on?" the Time Lord suggested with a clap of his hands.

"Can I have my stuff back?" Jack asked. The Anthi returned Jack's coat, gun and Vortex Manipulator to him. Jack flipped open his wrist-strap and entered a series of commands before a hologram of the Milky Way galaxy appeared. "Right, so possibly inhabitable planets close by are all marked red," he said, pointing to several red dots throughout the map.

The head Anthi approached him and stared at the hologram, asking Jack to show images of different planets. When the Anthi finally decided on a destination, they started to pack up. Within two hours, the Doctor and Jack had helped the Anthi collect their temporary base and clear any evidence of their presence.

Jack and the Doctor shook hands with the leader, and watched as the aliens walked back into their space craft and took off. Jack turned to the Doctor and smiled softly. "Everybody lives…"

"Well, yes… but there was no clear and present danger."

"Except for having the human race never happen." Jack shrugged, holding back a laugh.

"Oh, yeah. That." The Doctor chuckled. "So, Jack… I think we have something to discuss."

Jack sighed and looked up at the stars. "Do we really have to?"

"You know we do." The Doctor scratched the back of his head. "Let's just head back to the TARDIS and talk there."

Jack nodded and opened up his Vortex Manipulator again. "Fancy a trip?" he asked.

The Doctor wrapped an arm around Jack's waist and Jack pressed another button. They appeared outside of the TARDIS.

"Why didn't you just use that to come back from your little walk?" the Doctor murmured as he opened the door and walked inside.

"I wanted more time to think about how I was going to start this conversation." Jack admitted.

"Right," the Doctor whispered. He sat down on the flight seat and patted the spot next to him, inviting Jack to sit beside him.

Jack settled down next to his friend and let out a deep sigh. "I just have one question," he said softly. "Do you genuinely enjoy yourself with me? I don't just mean the adventures…"

"Yes, Jack." The Doctor nodded. "I'm sorry I made you doubt me earlier today. I was a bit angry about the TARDIS breaking down and I took it out on you."

Jack smiled. "It's okay. I get it. I probably would have done the same."

They both looked at each other and smiled affectionately. "What I have with you is unlike anything I've ever experienced. It keeps me on my toes and I _love_ it!"

Jack laughed. "Well I might be a lot of things, but boring isn't one of them."

"You've got that right." The Doctor sighed softly, a smile still on his lips. "My turn for the questions. What do you expect from me, Jack? I've had so many companions think of me as so much more than I really am, and I don't want you to be one of them."

Jack ran a hand back through his hair and let his shoulders slump slightly. "I don't want you to simply be Ianto's replacement. We've been through stuff together that would break other people. I guess all I want is to be as close to you as I can, because I… I want the most to come from our friendship or relationship or whatever this is. I want to spend the rest of my existence with you, Doc. That's what I want. I don't want to go from lover to lover like I have my entire life. With you, I actually have a chance at being with someone forever."

Jack caught something in the Doctor's eyes, something that looked like guilt, but soon almost immediately it was replaced with affection. "We can do that. If that's what you want."

Jack scooted closer to the Doctor and leaned his head on the Time Lord's shoulder. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You make me so happy and I just want to be happy."

The Doctor nodded and wrapped an arm around Jack's shoulders. "Then I'll do my best to make you happy, Jack. I'll be here for you for as long as I can."

"I'm sure you'll do just fine…" Jack murmured, a sly smile crossing his face as he slid his hand up the Doctor's leg.

"You and your wandering hands, Captain." The Doctor chuckled.

"You like it," Jack whispered in the Time Lord's ear.

"I'm not going to lie to you, but I'm not going to confirm anything either."

Jack laughed and sat up straight, raising an eyebrow at his friend. "I'm sure I could make you confirm a lot of things."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and stood up. "I fixed the TARDIS, by the way," he said, changing the subject.

Jack sighed under his breath. "Well how about you send us to a surprise destination, and I'll go get a shower and a change of clothes." He got up and brushed shoulders with the Doctor as he passed him. "Care to join me?"

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up, but his eyes remained fixed on the console in front of him. "I took a shower while you were out." His tone was indifferent, but Jack could see the smile twitching in the corners of his lips.

Jack scoffed. "Well fine. You don't know what you're missing, Doc."

"It can't be much."

Jack narrowed his eyes as the Doctor turned away from him, trying to hide his snickers.

Jack shoved his friend playfully. "Oh, shut up!"

"From what I've heard, you're mediocre at best!" The Doctor continued to tease Jack as he started preparations for take-off.

"Okay, now you're just trying to piss me off."

"What would give you that idea?" the Doctor asked, an incredulous expression on his face.

"You're just asking to be punished, Doc." Jack smirked.

"You couldn't punish me if your life depended on it!" The Doctor laughed.

"Wanna bet?"

And with that, the Doctor threw one final switch on the console and dashed down the corridors of the TARDIS. Jack burst out laughing and ran after him, feeling genuinely happy and carefree for the first time in what seemed like forever.

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**A/N: Please review? It's greatly appreciated.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: (a)TheDeathKitsune**

**Oh my Time Lord… I don't even have words to put here… so…**

**Many thanks to riftintime, who as I'm sure all of you know by now (if you even read these things up here… o-o) has been a tremendous help to this entire story. I had difficulties deciding whether or not I did the end of this chapter right, and riftintime insisted that it was excellent. Coming from them, that meant a lot, so the ending stayed! :D (if you have complaints, blame riftintime! XD)**

**A huge thanks to CarpeDiemforlife, who read this chapter before I even had chapters 8 and 9 written, despite the inevitable spoilers for them. Quite an amazing friend… Thanks, cariad. ;)**

**I could never forget you brilliant people out there who take the time to review. You make me smile all silly-like! :P**

**I think it's time the Doctor finally made it to space Florida, don't you?**

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Back with Jack, Chapter 10

The two of them spent the remainder of their flight in a game of chase. The times when Jack managed to catch the Doctor, he attempted to kiss him but was unsuccessful as the Time Lord managed to get free of his hold and run off again.

Finally, Jack gave up and took a shower, needing to wash the dirt off of him. He changed into clean clothes that the TARDIS seemed to have produced from no where and strolled back out into the console room. He saw that the TARDIS had also cleaned his coat. He sent a silent thanks to the time machine and pulled on his great-coat.

When the TARDIS finally landed, Jack approached the door and smirked. "Do you think we've actually gotten to where we wanted to, Doctor?" he teased his friend.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes as he nudged Jack out of the way and looked around. "Stop being smart with me. We've actually landed in space Florida this time!" He laughed. "The TARDIS says so."

"Space Florida? Finally!" Jack chuckled with him, hooking an arm around the Time Lord's waist and pulling him close to his side. The Doctor looked down at Jack's arm hesitantly before smiling softly and pulling the door open.

Jack gasped as he saw the scene in front of him. He'd never been to space Florida before, and he immediately wondered why he hadn't. Even though it was night-time, the entire landscape shined. Sparkling pink and white sand stretched out in front of him for several feet, and out along the coastline for at least several miles, interrupted only by large stones shaped by the wind and the tides, and there was a hut of some sort far off to his right. The water was a deep aquamarine color that seemed to shimmer just as much as the sand. As Jack looked up at the stars, he saw two moons and constellations even he didn't recognize.

Slowly his eyes traveled back to the Doctor. "Just when I thought nothing else in the universe could render me speechless…"

The Time Lord had a wide grin on his face and he looked genuinely pleased that he could get such a reaction from Jack Harkness. "It's a good spot for a holiday, yeah?"

Jack laughed and pulled the Doctor in for a quick kiss. "It's perfect. I think I like this more than the pleasure planet," he murmured.

"Come on, let's go for a walk!" The Doctor quickly changed the subject and the mood, wriggling out of Jack's arms and strolling down the shoreline, dangerously close to the water.

Jack watched him, his mouth slightly agape, still in awe of his surroundings and the idea of sharing the experience with the Doctor.

The Time Lord jumped up slightly as the waves lapped at his shoes, but he continued walking. A mischievous smirk crossed over Jack's features before he slipped out of his coat and ran after the Doctor, tackling the other man to the ground and rolling them into the water.

The Time Lord let out a surprised yelp before his head went under. Jack laughed and pulled the Doctor back up, grinning at his friend who was coughing and spluttering and trying to sweep his hair out of his eyes.

"Was that really necessary, Jack?" the Doctor scolded, but the seriousness of his statement was diminished by his laughter.

"Oh yeah…" Jack snickered and rolled them closer to the sand so that he could pin the Doctor down without them going under again. "Absolutely necessary," he whispered, leaning down and capturing the Doctor's lips with his own.

The kiss started out slow and soft, but gradually it grew more heated and urgent. The Doctor reached up and tangled a hand in the back of Jack's hair, showing a confidence and eagerness that Jack hadn't felt around the Time Lord since the morning with the muffins.

Jack felt his surprise resurface as the Doctor started to tug at the buttons on Jack's shirt. Jack pulled back from the kiss and looked down at his friend, his breathing uneven.

"Doctor?" he whispered.

"Don't question it," The Doctor said quickly, flipping them over so that Jack's back was in the sand. "If you start questioning it, I will, too."

Before Jack even had time to agree or protest, their lips were joined again. The Doctor managed to get Jack's shirt completely unbuttoned, and he pushed the fabric off the other man's shoulders, taking Jack's suspenders with it.

Jack was grateful for the warm temperature of the water and the air, because in any other weather he would have most likely been shivering.

The Doctor slipped out of his jacket and tossed it further back on the beach as Jack started on the buttons of his shirt. Soon, that was off as well, and the two of them lay there in the sand, their chests and lips pressed together and the waves lapping around them. As Jack attempted to undo the Doctor's trousers, the Time Lord pulled back with an apologetic smile and Jack felt his stomach drop.

"Jack…" the Time Lord murmured, his shyness returning. He started to ramble. "Can we do this in the cabin I made sure we materialized near? I'm not sure I want to… in the water and sand, and-"

Jack chuckled and pressed a finger to the Doctor's lips. "Stop talking." He stood up and helped the Doctor up as well. The Time Lord scooped up their sodden and discarded clothing before grinning at Jack and running for the hut-like building that Jack had seen earlier. "Beat you there!"

Jack narrowed his eyes and quickly activated his Vortex Manipulator. He appeared outside of the TARDIS, grabbed his coat, then he teleported inside the cabin. He leaned against the doorframe, smirking as the Doctor skidded to a halt outside.

"What? Oh, you cheat!" The Doctor threw their shirts at him, a playful glare on his face.

Jack laughed and caught the clothes, dropping them on the floor and pulling the Doctor inside the hut. He closed the door behind them and pressed the Doctor against the wall, kissing down the Time Lord's neck slowly.

The Doctor held Jack by his shoulders and slowly pulled him back again. "The bed?" he whispered, locking his eyes with the other man's.

Jack immediately understood and nodded slowly, grinning at his friend and leading them over to the king-sized bed that occupied most of the one-room cabin. Jack didn't spend much time looking around at the space. He figured it was nice, but his attention was on something else. He could admire the room later.

The Doctor was the one to pull them down onto the bed, effectively surprising Jack again. "Taking the lead, are we?" Jack said quietly.

"Quit questioning me before I realize what I'm doing and stop," the Doctor warned.

Jack pressed his lips together as a show that he would remain silent, but his eyes sparkled with amusement. He rolled them over so that he was on top and started trailing soft kisses down the Doctor's chest…

* * *

Jack pulled the Doctor close to him, nuzzling the Time Lord's neck softly and letting out a long sigh of contentment. The Doctor ran a hand back through Jack's hair, a breathless laugh escaping his lips.

"What?" Jack asked, opening one eye and peering up at his partner.

"Oh, nothing… just thinking about my circumstances. I never thought this would happen. I wasn't expecting any of this when I picked you up back on Raxon…" The Time Lord trailed off.

"Why _are_ you on holiday, Doctor?" Jack asked, running his fingers up and down the Doctor's arm.

The Doctor closed his eyes and shook his head, "It's a long story. One I'm sure I can't share with you."  
"Oh, come on! We're both time travelers, I'm sure we're past the point in our relationship where we have to be careful about time lines." Jack sighed in exasperation before grinning at the Doctor. His light-heartedness was replaced with concern as he saw the wistful look in his friend's eyes. "What are you running from?" he asked, knowing the Time Lord well enough to recognize his expression.

"I… I don't… I can't tell you, Jack. I'm really not allowed to tell you."

Jack sat up and rubbed his face with his hands. "This is why I hate talking after sex. Something comes up that really shouldn't and it ruins the mood."

The Doctor sighed and grabbed Jack's hand, pulling himself upright as well, "Jack, I want to tell you! I really do, but-"

"But what, Doc? What is so terrible that you can't tell me? We trust each other, right?" Jack asked, his eyes searching the Doctor's. Fear washed over him as he realized just how attached he had become to the Time Lord in the brief time they'd spent back together. Jack had fallen in love again, but not really. He had fallen back in love. He had always loved the Doctor in one way or the other, but now it was something different. Finally, the Doctor seemed to be reciprocating the feelings Jack had for him, and Jack had already grown too accustomed to the sensation. He didn't really know for sure if the Doctor loved him back, and that scared him more than anything. "Right?" he whispered, trying to reassure himself.

"I trust you with my life, Jack, but this is different. I could literally end the universe if I told anyone." The Doctor held Jack's face in his hands and pressed their foreheads together. "You have to understand that if I told you, you would try to stop me. And… what I'm running from is a fixed point in time. Nothing can be allowed to keep me from going."

Jack felt tears building up in his eyes and he forced them down. '_Man up, Harkness. You need to stay calm'_ he told himself.

"What's so terrible that you can't even face it? Maybe you just need someone to be there with you…" Jack chanced.

The Doctor closed his eyes again and shook his head, "Jack, I can't… I can't tell you. I want to. Oh, I want to so badly."

Jack pulled his friend closer to him, pressing their lips together in a deep kiss, "Yes you can, Doctor. I'll help you, and I swear I won't stop you. If the universe depends on it, I can suck it up and let you go through with it."

The Doctor looked at his companion. "Really?" he croaked.

Jack nodded once and smiled. "Really."

"I'm going to die," the Doctor whispered, moisture gathering in the corners of his eyes.

"What?" Jack gasped, "B-but you can regenerate, right?"

"No, Jack. I'm going to _die._ If I'm killed during regeneration, then I can actually die and never come back. That's what's going to happen to me." The Doctor's voice was trembling. "I've been procrastinating, Jack. I'm a coward!"

Jack was stunned into silence, but he still wrapped his arms around the Doctor and held him close. The Doctor was going to die… and he had known the entire time. He had known all along, yet he had still allowed Jack to become completely infatuated with him again.

"What were you trying to accomplish with me?" Jack whispered, immediately feeling used, but he refused to pull away. Part of him knew the Doctor needed him.

"I don't know, Jack. I told you, I wasn't expecting any of this! I… I guess I thought you could help be a distraction from the inevitable…" The Doctor sounded defeated.

Jack tensed up, wanting to properly show his anger and pain, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. "So I was just a distraction, then? None of what we've done has mattered to you?"

"No, Jack, it's not that!" The Doctor looked up at him. "It has mattered, I swear. It was something I've never done before and-"

"You used me because you wanted one last hoorah before you were sentenced to death," Jack growled, unable to hold back his hostile tone.

"No!" the Doctor protested. "That's not why! Jack, I know how fragile you get about these things, please don't do this!"

"Do what?" Jack shouted, standing up and grabbing his briefs, not caring that they were still a little damp. "You don't want me to leave you because then you'll finally have to man up and face what you've been avoiding for who knows how long."

The Doctor frowned and looked away, his posture showing just how ashamed he was. Jack shook his head and started picking his clothes up off the floor.

"Jack, I want you to understand… I want you to know that I didn't think you would fall in love with me."

Jack froze with his back to the Doctor. He had never admitted anything like that to the Doctor. Not once had he said out loud that he loved the Time Lord. How could the Doctor possibly know?

"I'm going to admit that I let this get carried away. You made me happy, and… I could tell I was making you happy and it all seemed to be worth it, because I can't stand seeing you in pain." The Doctor stopped and took a deep breath. "This is hurting me, too, Jack."

"What makes you think I'm in love with you?" Jack whispered.

"Because I can see it in your eyes, Jack." The Doctor hesitated before saying, "It's the same look Rose used to give me."

Then Jack realized just how insensitive he had been. He hadn't stopped a single time to think about how the Doctor was feeling about their relationship. He had only been concerned with his own happiness and with what Ianto would have thought.

Jack turned around slowly. "Doctor, I'm s-"

"Don't apologize, Jack. This is both of our faults." The Doctor stood up and pulled his briefs on. He walked up to Jack and hugged him tightly.

Jack nodded and buried his face in the Doctor's shoulder. "What do we do now?"

"We can try to keep going… for only a little while longer?" the Doctor suggested.

Jack sighed. "I don't think that's the best idea. You need to face this, Doctor." Jack couldn't figure out why was the Doctor so calm and collected. He was going to die!

He stepped back so he could look his friend in the eyes. "When I said the Doctor and Jack and their never-ending adventures… you knew that couldn't be the case, huh? You knew this would have to end."

The Doctor nodded and sighed. "I'm so sorry."

Jack closed his eyes and forced himself to remain calm. "Is there any chance that I could accompany you? When you… die?" Saying it out loud finally made it dawn on Jack. The Doctor was going to die and never come back. Jack was going to have the absolutely last thing he cared about taken away from him.

"No… it's a fixed point in time. As far as I know there are only four people who can be there."

"River, Amy, Rory, and…?" Jack asked curiously.

"An old friend who will tell the other three what to do," the Doctor murmured.

Jack was still slightly confused. "Care to explain a bit more?"

The Doctor sat them both back down on the bed and started the story about his impending death. He told Jack everything he knew, which only included where and when he was supposed to go. Then he explained that he had already figured out that Amy and Rory had witnessed the event, so to prevent the time lines from being compromised, he had to find a way to invite them. He told Jack about Canton Delaware and the American's contribution to everything, and he also explained about the blue envelopes.

"So Rory, Amy, River and Canton are all getting these envelopes with coordinates and a date. You aren't telling them what it's all for?"

"Well, Canton will know…" the Doctor muttered.

"You're going to break their hearts, Doctor!" Jack felt his voice rising, then he calmed himself.

"I have a sinking suspicion River already knows…" The Doctor laughed with a wry smile.

Jack shook his head. "You're scaring me, Doctor. You're not like yourself right now."

The Doctor sighed and put his head in his hands. "Knowing you're going to die is stressful."

"I'm familiar with the sensation." Jack sighed.

The Doctor managed to get out a small laugh. "Yeah, I guess you are."

Jack felt another wave of realization wash over him. There would be no more Doctor… Without meaning to, he found himself starting to cry.

"Oh, Jack…" the Doctor whispered, this time being the comforting one. "It's going to be alright."

"How can you say that? I've finally found the last thing worth any meaning in my life, and now it's being taken from me, too! Everyone I love dies! I thought you'd be an exception!" Jack wrapped his arms around the Doctor and hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go. "I don't want you to go, too."

He felt like a small child. He knew he wasn't reacting appropriately, but he couldn't help himself.

"Jack, look at me." The Doctor pulled Jack level with him. "You will persevere and move on. Someone like you… like us… Someone who has experienced so much loss needs to hang on. You need to show the universe that you're better than the people who just give up. You aren't a coward like me, Jack. You can face things like this. I need you to be strong… Be strong for me. Be strong for Ianto."

Jack nodded and cleared the distance between them, kissing the Doctor slowly, needing to find comfort in physical contact. The Doctor kissed him back before hesitantly pulling away. "Jack…" he whispered.

Jack managed to steal one more kiss before letting himself cry. "I love you, Doctor. There, I said it… I didn't get to tell Ianto before he left and-"

"Jack," the Doctor said again, wiping the tears from Jack's cheeks. Something changed in the Doctor's eyes; they lost their passion and emotion. "You don't love me," he said, his lips pressed together in a tight line.

Jack gasped and glared menacingly at the Time Lord, "How can you say that? Of course I do!" _What is he going on about? _Jack thought to himself. _He is contradicting everything that he said before… Doesn't he realize this is hurting me? I thought he didn't want to hurt me…_

"It's an infatuation. You don't truly love me," the Doctor growled back, but the pain was obvious in his voice. "There's no point in loving me anyway. I could… I could never love you back."

Jack shoved the Doctor off him, not noticing the break in the other man's cold expression, showing that all of it was an act. "Stop talking like that, Doctor! You don't know what you're saying!"

"I'm about to die, Jack! You can't love me! I can't love you. You've become wrapped up in a… in a fantasy." The Doctor's voice cracked slightly and Jack could see the glistening of moisture on the Doctor's face, but he ignored it.

"You said that you knew I loved you because of Rose! Was Rose just an infatuation, Doc?" Jack shouted.

"Rule one: the Doctor lies!" the Time Lord yelled back.

Jack felt like he was about to throw up. _This isn't happening to me… _he thought in despair. _I could deal with him dying as long as I know that he loves me back. Why is the Doctor doing this?_

However, Jack had shown enough weakness than his defensive and overactive personality could handle. He picked his clothes back up from the floor and pulled them on. "Fuck you, Doctor. Go ahead and die. I don't need you!" he spat. He flipped open his Vortex Manipulator, looking the Doctor in the eyes as he entered a set of random coordinates.

The Doctor was expressionless. Not sad, not happy, not angry.

He was indifferent, and that only angered Jack even more. Jack punched the last button on his wrist-strap, but as he was teleporting, he heard the Doctor say one last thing.

"I needed to do that, Jack. I'm so sorry…"

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**Reviews are immensely appreciated. Let me know what you think, please.**


	11. Epilogue

**A/N: (a)TheDeathKitsune**

**Oh dear… It appears this is the end. I imagine many people will be unhappy with how it ends, but I wanted this to remain in the canon universe. I started writing this story with the intention that by the end, it could be plausibly canon… So… without spoiling anything, I'll leave that thought with you guys. **

**SUPER gigantic final thanks to riftintime. They really have helped me out with my writing skills and made this story far more readable than it would have been without them. In turn, you readers should send silent thanks to them as well.**

**CarpeDiemforlife also contributed to helping me with my doubts about the ending, though I know they didn't want it to end the way that it does… Tough love, Captain.**

**For all of the reviews I have received… I have no words for you. You guys are definitely a major part of what kept me writing. Thank you so much! **

**Thank you to those who don't review as well. I know you mysterious ghost readers are out there, just know that I know you exist, and I acknowledge and thank you for reading this.**

**So without further ado, the brief finale to 'Back with Jack'!**

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Epilogue:

Jack stood atop a cliff at Lake Silencio, Utah, his coattails billowing out behind him in the wind. He felt terrible about everything he had said to the Doctor. He had worked out that the Doctor had been lying to him about his feelings in an attempt to make his death have less of an impact on the ex-time agent. While it had worked, it had torn a completely different kind of hole in Jack's heart.

He understood why he didn't get a blue envelope like the ones the Doctor had sent out. Amy, River, Rory and Canton were supposed to be the only ones there. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. However, that hadn't been enough to stop him from going. The Doctor _had _told him everything, after all.

After leaving the Doctor back in space Florida, Jack had teleported to a planet he didn't recognize, clad in dirty clothes, and with absolutely no money. At least he had remembered his coat. After buying fresh clothes with some money he had stolen from a random person's pocket, Jack opened his Vortex Manipulator and teleported to Earth.

He'd arrived at the lake before the Ponds, which had allowed him to find a perfect vantage point. He watched the events from afar. He couldn't be seen. He knew better than to interfere with fixed but weak points in time.

He cried shamelessly as the Doctor was shot by the impossible astronaut, and then again as the Time Lord's body was burnt.

It was Jack's first time back in 21st century Earth since he'd left after eliminating the threat of the 456. Once again, he was overwhelmed with a sense of true loneliness. The Doctor was gone forever, just like Ianto. Just like Toshiko and Owen… Just like all of the other Torchwood operatives that he had lost over the years. Jack could have called himself Abaddon, because everywhere he went, death followed in his shadow…

His eyes followed the Ponds as they walked away. He cast one last glance out at the water, seeing the spot where the Doctor's ashes were slowly diffusing into the lake. He took a deep breath, knowing there was one last place he needed to visit before he left Earth again. He knew he couldn't stay. The guilt would drive him mad.

He teleported back to Cardiff Bay and slowly walked up to the water tower in the middle of Roald Dahl Plass. It had been rebuilt since the explosion that had torn him apart and destroyed the Hub.

He looked down at the cement squares surrounding the monolith and smiled faintly as he stepped onto one of them, the one that the TARDIS had landed on and allowed Jack to create the invisible lift. He turned around, his back to the water tower, and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Torchwood was gone. There was no secret base beneath his feet; just earth and more concrete.

The Doctor had broken Jack's heart to help him move on. The Doctor didn't want Jack to mourn him. The Time Lord had wanted Jack to carry on with his life. Jack knew he needed to. He stepped off the pavement and started to walk away to find a secluded place to teleport from.

He hadn't even taken three steps before a sound that he was convinced he would never hear again came from behind him. Jack whipped around and stared at the blue box that stood right where it had landed what seemed like several life-times ago.

Jack couldn't comprehend what he was seeing. _How is the TARDIS here?_ _The Doctor is dead! I saw him die!_ Jack thought frantically.  
The door swung open and the Doctor jumped out, looking almost exactly like Jack had last seen him.

"I just thought you'd like to be the first to know, Jack! I'm not dead. It's really complicated, in fact Amy and Rory don't even know I'm alive. And they can't. No one can know," the Doctor said matter-of-factly.

"Wh-what? How are you-"

"Long story, Jack!"

"Why the hell are you telling me that you're alive? I just accepted that you were dead!" Jack couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed, but he was relieved more than anything.

"Because my death would be one more to add to your list of grievances. And, well, you know I hate putting you in pain." The Doctor smiled softly and pulled Jack in for a hug that Jack didn't return. He couldn't let himself fall for the Time Lord again.

"Come on, Jack! Let's go on some more adventures!" The Doctor beamed, pulling back from the embrace.

Jack shook his head and sighed. "Doctor, you know we can't do that and you know why." Jack wanted to go, he did, but he knew what would inevitably happen. He figured out that what he had felt with the Doctor wasn't really love. At least, not like what he had felt with Ianto. With the Doctor, it was an infatuation both participants let run on for far too long. Jack needed to move on, something that all of his time at Torchwood and all of the deaths of his friends and colleagues had taught him.

The Doctor nodded and tried not to look crestfallen. "It was good, yeah?"

Jack's face twisted in pain. "What are the chances?" he muttered.

"I'm sorry?" the Doctor asked, his concern evident.

"That's exactly what Ianto said before he-" Jack's voice caught in his throat.

"Oh..."

"Yeah… But it was... It was great. We just can't be together. We're both too destructive," Jack said, his eyes locking with the Doctor's.

"Too much blood on our hands and too much guilt in our conscience." The Doctor nodded.

"And we're both just too damn attractive." Jack flashed him a grin, needing to lighten the mood. They both laughed and embraced each other again.

"Bye, Jack," The Doctor whispered.

"You think we'll ever run into each other again?"

"I have no doubt about it. We're both drawn to universal danger, aren't we?" The Doctor chuckled.

"Guess so." Jack rolled his eyes.

"I really did enjoy my time with you, Jack. You need to know that. I'm so sorry for what I said to you in Florida, but you know-"

"You said it to save me from myself, I get it. Stop with the apologies." Jack forced a smile.

The Doctor sighed and pressed a kiss to Jack's forehead. "But really, Jack, you shouldn't waste your breath on me. I'm not worth it."

Jack shook his head. "But you are. We just can't handle each other, and that's enough to spoil any good relationship."

The Doctor smiled and hugged Jack tightly. "See you again, yeah?"

"Yeah…" Jack chuckled sadly.

And with that, the Doctor slipped back inside his blue box. Jack stepped back as the wind picked up around him and the TARDIS dematerialized. He shoved his hands in his coat pockets, smiled wistfully, and turned away.

He'd see the Doctor again. He knew it. The Time Lord was right; they were both drawn to the same kinds of circumstances. Their paths would cross again, no doubt.  
And if Jack ever found the Doctor again, there would be no stop to the flirting, but now he knew where to draw the line. Jack could safely say he was completely over the Doctor. That didn't mean that the situation hadn't hurt him, but he knew he couldn't afford to slip back into his post-Ianto depression or anything similar to it.

He had learned quite a lot from his experience, too, so that was a plus…

"The end is where we start from," Jack had told his team once, and in all senses, this was most definitely another end.


End file.
